As part of a broader security push last summer, the Transportation Security Administration began scrutinizing containers of powders in travelers’ carry-on luggage, and the TSA will soon ask foreign airports sending flights directly to the U.S. to do the same.
Over the past few months, airport security hasn’t exactly made good headlines. Except for Miami International Airport. Unlike other airports across the U.S., Miami International Airport screens all employees that enter and exit the secured area of the airport. Miami has four checkpoints for employee screening, seven access gates for inspections of vehicles entering into the airfield, random background checks of employees and a mandatory security awareness class. Last year, the airport confiscated 209 employee ID badges for security violations. The airport has nearly 38,000 employees with ID badges, and 35,000 who have access to restricted areas. I spoke with Lauren Stover, Director of Public Safety and Security at Miami-Dade Aviation Department at the Miami International Airport (MIA) about the proactive stance that she and her team take each day.
The ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in Paris in January and the threats against shopping malls in the U.S., Canada and the UK by Al-Shaabab highlight threats that call for more fully integrated surveillance solutions to enhance security. The horrifying Paris attacks demonstrated that, while various forms of video were available to record the attackers’ movements during and after the attack, the video wasn’t being made available in real time or near real time to help law enforcement’s response to the attack.
We’ve gotten pretty good at collecting all sorts of data from cameras and other sensors – but in the end, it is what we do with the information that counts. Surveillance technologies provide the capability to capture the minutest details, but the real value in collecting information is in its analysis. While technology allows us to observe behaviors that predict criminal intent and can interdict before events occur, often this data is subverted by security professionals and law enforcement misinterpretation based on spurious factors.
The Transportation Security Administration is considering implementing additional security measures for airport and airline employees, including enhanced airline-employee screenings, random security checks and additional TSA and law enforcement patrols in secure areas, said federal officials in a statement Thursday.
Having served in the public sector for 30 years, John Pistole is stepping down from his position as director of the Transportation Security Administration in favor of a job in academia.
The airport scanners that let TSA agents see through travelers’ clothes can be fairly easily obstructed from detecting concealed weapons or bombs, according to researchers from several top U.S. universities.
The number of passengers who tried, knowingly or not, to bring guns onto planes in their carry-on luggage nearly doubled in the past six years – from 976 in 2009 to 1,813 in the U.S. last year, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
As part of a $2.2-billion plan over the next five years, the TSA says it will be adopting a system to identify the risk level of each bag based on information about its owner. Higher-risk passengers’ luggage would receive a more thorough screening.
