What Israel can teach the world about security

[testifyoncruises]

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/744426--what-israel-can-teach-us-about-security

Great read and something to think about the next time you fly domestically or internationally.

 

[MM27]

That's a very interesting article. I wonder how that airport in Israel compares with the airports in North America in terms of passengers going through the terminals each day.

 

[karen l]

Great article. I think Israel can teach us a great deal about security for airports & other large venues. People believe body imaging will protect them but I believe terrorists will find a way around it. We need to adopt a system that is proven & the system used in Israel works.

 

[testifyoncruises]

This is the most telling statement:

"Even today with the heightened security in North America, they will check your items to death. But they will never look at you, at how you behave. They will never look into your eyes ... and that's how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys."

What we are doing with the TSA and security today is nothing more than theater pure and simple. Wasting money and making politicians on both sides of the aisle feel good because they are "doing something."

Ineffective something, but something nonetheless.

 

[GeorgeG]

I like it.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Israel can do what it does because it is a culturally isolated environment, you're either Israeli or or your not, Jewish or not... little room for confusion. The US, however is a culturally diverse experiment in World History. There is no standard here, even from a behavioral perspective, so none of it would work. If I remember correctly from my International classes back in college, some cultures find it extremely rude and aggressive to look someone in the eyes. I think it was people from India (could be wrong), so if the whole eye contact thing were to be applied they would waste time mis-reading about 15% of the world's population. How on earth does that make sense?

The US is a unique place by anyone's standards and so our solutions demand to be, by necessity, just as unique.

I, for one, just can't understand why every one of our airports do not have both the high powered x-ray viewer AND the chemical puffer. After all it is OUR tax money being given out like Halloween candy in every direction imaginable in the US, to businesses, overseas etc. SO could someone please explain to me why can't a few billion of it be spent on keeping American's safe?????????????????? Oh yeah, that's right, we're supposed to pretend we're safer than we are ... heaven forbid we panic about reality... quick get out the smoker to calm the hive.

Oh, and as for privacy concern's, I happen to think that since flying is OPTIONAL and any person can opt out and drive , take a train or travel by boat, the US is well within the bounds of our civil rights to demand submission to these screenings in exchange for the PRIVILEGE, not right, to fly.

 

[czycropper]

The US really needs to learn from Israel in terms of security but it won't happen because there will be too many lawsuits by people complaining about privacy concerns but yet these are the same people that will say why wasn't anything done when there is another 9/11 - it's a Catch-22. I'd rather get searched and it take a while and know that I'm safe than the opposite.

 

[testifyoncruises]

It is time to stop groups like the ACLU from deciding our airline security. Honestly.

 

[Wall-E1]

Somehow, I have a different view of the article. I feel much safer with our security measures, flawed as they are. It seems the article is stating that the best defense is terminal employees looking passengers in the eyes and trying to profile them accurately. No thanks, I'll take our "naked x-ray" machines, bomb sniffing dogs and metal detecting machines over that any day of the week. I'm not saying that the profiling idea is bad. We currently have undercover agents at our airports who seek out suspicious behavior, but the profiling of suspicious behavior is only one aspect of security. I like our more high tech methods. There is no 100% solution, but I fail to see how Israel's airports are so much better than ours.

 

[Buckalew11]

Israel had to be smart about security because people want them blown off the face of the earth. As a whole, they are survivors and do what it takes to survive. Ours is such a different mindset from theirs and we worry about "tolerance" etc. and surely don't want to offend anyone. We need to wake up and get our heads out of the sand to be survivors also. We should learn from them and move forward. And you are right about no one looking you in the eyes--so true.

It reminds me of Disney bag search. Search those bags and backpacks to make people feel "good" and "secure" but really they're doing almost nothing but that. I remember walking through there once and my mom said, "Well, it makes me feel better." My dad said, "Yeah and that's about it because while they searched our bags, I have my pocketknife in my pants pocket." Our airport security is almost the same thing.

 

[luvmy3]

Somehow, I have a different view of the article. I feel much safer with our security measures, flawed as they are. It seems the article is stating that the best defense is terminal employees looking passengers in the eyes and trying to profile them accurately. No thanks, I'll take our "naked x-ray" machines, bomb sniffing dogs and metal detecting machines over that any day of the week. I'm not saying that the profiling idea is bad. We currently have undercover agents at our airports who seek out suspicious behavior, but the profiling of suspicious behavior is only one aspect of security. I like our more high tech methods. There is no 100% solution, but I fail to see how Israel's airports are so much better than ours.

I have to somewhat agree. I know for a fact there are those who are watching for suspicious behavior because dh was hauled off into a security area to be questioned and have his carry on searched. He was traveling to a bunch of different places and not sleeping and was delirious and acting a bit off at one of the airports because of it. He was quickly spotted. I think that there is alot going on behind the scenes that we are unaware of and while seeing the searches and taking off our shoes makes us feel safe, I have no doubt that someone, somewhere in that airport is making sure we are safe.

 

[testifyoncruises]

I fly through the nation's busiest airport a lot and we refer to TSA as THOUSANDS STANDING AROUND. The point of the article is that there are several layers of security employed by the Israelis including behaviour profiling that we are not doing because we are concentrating on nuns carrying tweezers.

Other airports around the world have stopped the silly shoe removal since nothing in Richard Reid's shoes would have shown up on an X-Ray.

I have been through security with a passport that is not even mine and the photo did not match nor did the name on my ticket match and I was on my way.

I can't tell you the number of times we are not looked at.

And I promise you maybe 10% of cargo is every screened. It is not passengers we should be worried about.

 

[Wall-E1]

I have been through security with a passport that is not even mine and the photo did not match nor did the name on my ticket match and I was on my way.

Why would you do this?

 

[Wall-E1]

I have been through security with a passport that is not even mine and the photo did not match nor did the name on my ticket match and I was on my way.

I can't tell you the number of times we are not looked at.

Nor do I believe this. In all my international travels, they always take care to match things up.

 

[Silent1CB]

Body imaging isn't going to find anything hidden inside a body cavity or anything swallowed with intent to vomit up when needed.

I would like to see dogs added to screening process. They can smell if someone has handled explosives in last X numbers of hours. Those puffer machines were supposed to do that to, but they don't work. Airports use dogs for luggage on the tarmac, why not add them to screening passengers?

I believe there is not 1 single method that will work. It needs to be a combination of methods.

Things hidden IN body cavities worry me most. We don't have a way to find those yet. Dogs will find them. Pat down will not.

 

[1957]

Somehow, I have a different view of the article. I feel much safer with our security measures, flawed as they are. It seems the article is stating that the best defense is terminal employees looking passengers in the eyes and trying to profile them accurately. No thanks, I'll take our "naked x-ray" machines, bomb sniffing dogs and metal detecting machines over that any day of the week. I'm not saying that the profiling idea is bad. We currently have undercover agents at our airports who seek out suspicious behavior, but the profiling of suspicious behavior is only one aspect of security. I like our more high tech methods. There is no 100% solution, but I fail to see how Israel's airports are so much better than ours.

No EL AL plane has ever been hijacked or breached. The only fatalities suffered on an EL AL plane was on a 3-crewman cargo flight that crashed into an apartment building in Holland - due to mechanical failure. No fatalities have ever occurred on an El Al passenger flight.

 

[testifyoncruises]

Why would you do this?

Because I am testing ineffective security. The passport I have is traveling with our group just not through the same security checkpoint. I promise you it happens more often than you realize.

 

[Wall-E1]

No EL AL plane has ever been hijacked or breached. The only fatalities suffered on an EL AL plane was on a 3-crewman cargo flight that crashed into an apartment building in Holland - due to mechanical failure. No fatalities have ever occurred on an El Al passenger flight.

In 1968, El Al experienced the first of many acts against the airline. On 23 July, the only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft took place, when a 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers was taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The aircraft, El Al Flight 426, was en route from Rome to Lod. The hijackers diverted it to Algiers. Bargaining with the hijackers went on for 40 days. Both the hijackers and the passengers, including 21 Israeli hostages, were eventually freed.[15]

On 26 December of the same year, two PFLP members attacked an El Al aircraft at Athens Airport, killing an Israeli mechanic.[16] The Israeli Defense Forces responded on 29 December with a night-time raid on Lebanon's Beirut Airport, destroying 14 planes on the ground belonging to Middle East Airlines, Trans Mediterranean Airways and Lebanese International Airways.[17]

On 18 February 1969, Palestinians attacked an El Al plane at Zurich Airport killing the copilot and injuring the pilot. One Palestinian attacker was killed and others were convicted but later released.[18]

Between September and December 1969, bomb and grenade attacks occurred at El Al offices in Athens, West Berlin, and Brussels.[18]

This wave of violence culminated in the failed hijacking of an El Al 707 by Patrick Arguello and Leila Khaled on 6 September 1970, as part of the Dawson's Field hijackings.[19]

 

[Wall-E1]

Because I am testing ineffective security. The passport I have is traveling with our group just not through the same security checkpoint. I promise you it happens more often than you realize.

Well, that is scary if it is happening, but I have been thoroughly checked every time I have gone through a checkpoint with my passport, as has my son. I just am having a hard time believing this.

 

[1957]

In 1968, El Al experienced the first of many acts against the airline. On 23 July, the only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft took place, when a 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers was taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The aircraft, El Al Flight 426, was en route from Rome to Lod. The hijackers diverted it to Algiers. Bargaining with the hijackers went on for 40 days. Both the hijackers and the passengers, including 21 Israeli hostages, were eventually freed.[15]

On 26 December of the same year, two PFLP members attacked an El Al aircraft at Athens Airport, killing an Israeli mechanic.[16] The Israeli Defense Forces responded on 29 December with a night-time raid on Lebanon's Beirut Airport, destroying 14 planes on the ground belonging to Middle East Airlines, Trans Mediterranean Airways and Lebanese International Airways.[17]

On 18 February 1969, Palestinians attacked an El Al plane at Zurich Airport killing the copilot and injuring the pilot. One Palestinian attacker was killed and others were convicted but later released.[18]

Between September and December 1969, bomb and grenade attacks occurred at El Al offices in Athens, West Berlin, and Brussels.[18]

This wave of violence culminated in the failed hijacking of an El Al 707 by Patrick Arguello and Leila Khaled on 6 September 1970, as part of the Dawson's Field hijackings.[19]

You're right. Guess I meant in more modern times....not forty something years ago. Technology. Forty years ago, the US didn't even have established security procedures. In 1966, my first flight, I walked up to the counter, bought a ticket, and got on the plane. Didn't show anything at all. In 1989, DD had a r/t ticket LA to Denver, which was cheaper than a one-way ticket. We put an ad in the paper and sold to return portion to some college girl, because they still weren't checking IDs at that time. EL AL was certainly more secure than any US airport in 1989! As late as May, 2004, on my last trip from Atlanta to Cancun, we just went through regular X-ray security and only had to show our ticket and a DL. Upon leaving Mexico, every piece of luggage, including carry-ons and purses was hand-searched before check-in through X-ray. We were also hand-patted. Mexican airport security was certainly a lot better than US airport security at that time! I'm saying that US security still has a long way to go, and I'd feel much safer flying out of Israel than Atlanta!