Ben

America͛s Current Efforts at Preventing Airline Terrorism
After 9/11 a security framework was created to protect our country from large-scale attacks.
http://www.dhs.gov/files/publications/implementing-9-11-commission-recommendations.shtm


Screening (multilayered/overlapping security measures) from public,private, local, state, federal
Passanger physical screening, name screening,
Efficient passenger screening must be a compromise between thoroughness and speed.
Gaining information about a person without violating his/her civil rights.
X-ray backscatter considered the best insurance against bombs getting on an airplane
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-4684318.html
1. Advanced Imaging Technology http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2011/0201.shtm
͞Since imaging technology has been deployed at airports, over 99 percent of passengers
choose to be screened by this technology over alternative screening
procedures. ³http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/ait/index.shtm
2. Advanced Passenger Information http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1240515540198.shtm
Ten years ago, screening of passengers coming to the United States was limited to the visa process
and inspection of a person by an immigration officer at the port of entry. Provision of Advance
Passenger Information was voluntary http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/implementing-9-11-
commission-report-progress-2011.pdf
Secure Flight http://www.dhs.gov/files/publications/preventing-terrorism-and-enhancing-security-
progress-since-9-11.shtm
Over the past ten years, DHS has significantly adapted and enhanced its ability to
detect threats, building a layered, risk-based system that includes a full range of identification
verification measures ʹ from visa application checks and biometric identification to the
receipt of advanced passenger information and the full implementation of Secure Flight, a
program that enables DHS to prescreen 100 percent of passengers on flights flying to, from, or
within the United States against government watchlists
Today, four centers across the federal
government provide information regarding potential terrorist travel: TSC, NCTC, the National
Targeting Center, and the Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center, all of whom work together,
leveraging threat-related intelligence and travel-related data which is essential in identifying,
targeting, and interdicting known and suspected terrorists as well as suspicious cargo prior to
entering the United States or boarding a flight bound for the United States

Luggage/Cargo
1. Cargo http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/aircargo/index.shtm more inspectors
2. Prior to 9/11, only three percent of all passengers bags were screened.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14289974/
3. TSA installed minivan-sized explosive detection machines in airports across the country,
http://blog.tsa.gov/2008/03/how-we-do-what-we-do-baggage-screening.html
Allows to leave bags at ticket counter when they check in. Before TSA employees had to touch every
bag twice and all is underground eliminating congestion. Bags that trigger alarms in the detection
machines are routed to be inspected by TSA personnel

System has been checked TSA has conducted national covert (undercover,
unannounced) testing of standard screening procedures since September
2002 to assess checked baggage screening technologies and procedures,
and TSO performance in detecting explosives in an operational
environment http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06869.pdf
Employee
1.Crewmember Identity Verification Program http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2011/0401.shtm
http://www.tsa.gov/what_we_do/layers/employee_screening.shtm
2. training of airport security and law enforcement personnel to better detect behaviors associated with
terrorism.
All bag inspections are recorded and monitored. http://blog.tsa.gov/2008/03/how-we-do-what-we-do-
baggage-screening.html
Uses programs like E-verify http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm
Simplification/unification of government agencies and first responders
Specifically, the weaknesses of the pre-9/11 IC were a lack of centralized authority, an absence of
political will to reform the IC, and poor information sharing between agencies, as well as unchecked
rivalries, in particualr between the FBI and CIA. DNI was created
http://www.pnsr.org/web/page/924/sectionid/579/pagelevel/3/interior.asp
DHS made of 22 different Federal departments and agencies into a unified, integrated Department
http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/history/gc_1297963906741.shtm including the TSA
Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative http://nsi.ncirc.gov/ strategy is to develop, evaluate, and
implement common processes and policies for gathering, documenting, processing, analyzing, and sharing
information about terrorism-related suspicious activities

Now have centralized intelligence and standardized screenings.
Ready-made crisis management process
Since the terrorist attacks of September 2001, billions of federal dollars have been poured into grant programs for
state and local police and other first responders, with much of that spent on counterterrorism training.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/29/anti-terrorism-training-draws-scrutiny/
Multilayered security working together for a common goal of safety.

Preparness tests/drills http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5198249-
503544.html?tag=mncol;lst;2
Training Since 9/11, the federal government has made significant
organizational changes and investments in training and technical
assistance to improve emergency communications capabilities.


Inteinational Paitneiships

Between ͳͻͻͻ anu ʹͲͲͳǡ many of the hijackeis piepaieu foi the ͻȀͳͳ attack while living in
ueimany http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/implementing-9-11-commission-report-progress-
2011.pdf page 7
After failed attacked on December 25
th
, 2009 In 2010, Secretary Napolitano participated in five
regional aviation security summits in five continents, forging a historic consensus with her international
colleagues to strengthen civil aviation through enhanced information analysis and sharing, cooperation on
technological development, and modernized aviation security standards. These meetings culminated in
the adoption of a historic Declaration on Aviation Security by over 190 countries at the International Civil
Aviation Organization Triennial Assembly. http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/gc_1240598490142.shtm
http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1264119013710.shtm
ICAO's Implementation Support and Development Security Program (ISD-Security) will seek an
emphasis on addressing critical aviation security gaps, following a prioritized list of predetermined
objectives, according to the strategy. ISD-Security also will promote regional and cooperative aviation
security programs and coordination and cooperation with international agencies and donor nations
that could assist with building aviation security capabilities globally.
http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/today-s-news-analysis/single-article/un-agency-renews-aviation-
security-strategy/49d6b8108060aa8a69ce497b8c619e36.html



Areas of improvement
Constant vigilance
25,000 breaches in security mostly due to employee error
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/13/airport.security/index.html?iref=allsearch

Misspelling of name, etc Christmas attack
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/18/national/main6496428.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAr
ea

eight of the hijackers were randomly selected for additional screening and a gate agent flagged two as
suspicious, none were prevented from boarding their flights on 9/11.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/implementing-9-11-commission-report-progress-2011.pdf page 8
1. Employee complacency
a. Complacency is a state of mind that exists only in retrospective: it has to
be shattered before being ascertained.
Vladimir Nabokov

Nathaniel Heatwole story
2. External security
Airport parking lots adjacent to runwaus


Public involvement
4. Incentives for information sharing homeland security begins with hometown security.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/implementing-9-11-commission-report-progress-2011.pdf
͞trusted traveler͟ program Under "trusted traveler" programs, travelers voluntarily surrender
more information about themselves, giving the government more assurances of who they are.
subject to recurrent security
checks.http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/07/14/tsa.trusted.traveler/index.html?iref=allsearch.
Might evolve into a system of screening that checks for bad people versus metallic objects.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/06/07/checkpoint.of.the.future/index.html?iref=allsearch

Encouraging people to sign up for trusted traveler program
Public Awareness ͸If You See Something, Say SomethingΡ campaign
Counteiing violent Extiemism ሺCvEሻ local law enfoicement
There have been two successful attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11 that were motivated by al-
Qaida's ideology, both in 2009: the shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas, when an Army
psychiatrist killed 13 people, and the killing of a soldier outside a military recruiting station
in Little Rock, Ark., when a Tennessee man opened fire. Both gunmen were U.S. citizens,
inspired to kill by a violent interpretation of Islam that has been spreading across western
countries. Only way to detect changes in the behavior of people that are not on a watch
list.

1. Biometric system for tracking foreigners as they leave and enter the country
London using them in 2012 olympics Dowards, J. (2009) Biometric tests for Olympic site
workers. Retrieved November 19, 2010
from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/11/biometric-tests-for-olympic-site
Been using 10 finger scans in airports since 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/12/10/visitors.fingerprints/index.html?iref=allsearch
The main objection to this is the perceived notion of violation of civil liberties and privacy.
Facial, fingerprint, and iris recognition are the most commonly adopted systems currently in wide
use across the world (BSIA, 2009). BSIA (2009) Biometric security - opportunities and fears of an
evolving technology. Retrieved November 18, 2010,
from http://www.bsia.co.uk/aboutbsia/news/newsarticle/NXS1BO329501

2. Technology to scan large boxes/containers http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14289974/ may be
too much money

Government
3. Simplify layers of government to allow for less error across organizations.
Multilayered security within one organization
Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is
nothing left to take away. This quote is stating that after a mission objective has been
attained, the attention should shift to simplifying the process. While the multilayered
system of airline safety checks has increased safety, it has also increased complexity.
For example, at the end of the Department of Homeland Security 2011 Progress Report there are
three pages of acronyms that all represent different agencies that have responsibilities concerning
national security.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery



Conclusion 10 year anniversary of 9/11 this year
It is this author͛s opinion that America is not losing the war on terrorism.
Safety is a journey not a destination.
As terrorism advances/evolves so should safety measures (people surgically implanting bombs on
themselves to board airplanes)
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/07/06/bomb.implants/index.html?iref=allsearch

Working While there have been few terror successes, it's not for lack of trying. For
example, in 2009 a Nigerian man nearly brought down an airliner over Detroit with a
bomb he hid in his underwear; a Pakistani-American tried to set off a car bomb on a
busy New York street corner in 2010; and law enforcement has disrupted several plots
that targeted urban subway systems. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43846052/ns/politics/