Click here to read the rest."THE SAFEST airline in the world, it is widely agreed, is El Al, Israel's national carrier. The safest airport is Ben Gurion International, in Tel Aviv. No El Al plane has been attacked by terrorists in more than three decades, and no flight leaving Ben Gurion has ever been hijacked. So when US aviation intensified its focus on security after 9/11, it seemed a good bet that the experience of travelers in American airports would increasingly come to resemble that of travelers flying out of Tel Aviv.
But in telling ways, the two experiences remain notably different. For example, passengers in the United States are required to take off their shoes for X-ray screening, while passengers at Ben Gurion are spared that indignity. On the other hand, major American airports generally offer the convenience of curbside check-in, while in Israel baggage and traveler stay together until the security check is completed. Screeners at American airports don't usually engage in conversation with passengers, unless you count their endlessly repeated instructions about emptying pockets and taking laptops out of briefcases. At Ben Gurion, security officials make a point of engaging in dialogue with almost everyone who's catching a plane.
Nearly five years after Sept. 11, 2001, US airport security remains obstinately focused on intercepting bad things -- guns, knives, explosives. It is a reactive policy, aimed at preventing the last terrorist plot from being repeated. The 9/11 hijackers used box cutters as weapons, so sharp metal objects were barred from carry-on luggage. Would-be suicide terrorist Richard Reid tried to ignite a bomb in his shoe, so now everyone's footwear is screened for tampering. Earlier this month British authorities foiled a plan to blow up airliners with liquid explosives; as a result, toothpaste and cologne have become air-travel contraband.
Of course the Israelis check for bombs and weapons too, but always with the understanding that things don't hijack planes, terrorists do -- and that the best way to detect terrorists is to focus on intercepting not bad things, but bad people. To a much greater degree than in the United States, security at El Al and Ben Gurion depends on intelligence and intuition -- what Rafi Ron, the former director of security at Ben Gurion, calls the human factor."
What Israeli security could teach us
Jeff Jacoby has a good piece about how the US can learn from Israel. Emphasis in bold is mine.
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4 comments:
He makes a lot of good points.
The root of the problem is that America isn't serious about security. We're not willing to spend the money or undergo the inconvenience of actual security, so we settle for what Bruce Shneier called "security theater" -- the appearance of security.
JA,
Very true. America is not yet serious about security. I am hopeful that things change soon.
The difference is like between the brain and the mind, one sees only things, the other knows psychology, lol, good ol USA. Yea for Israel!
You'd think that the rest of the world would want to emulate Israel's good airline security record- meaning, they'd copy what Israel does.
Nope.
Israel's airport employees are serious about their job and treat it with the importance it deserves. Most of the airport workers in the US look like they'd just as soon be working at McDonald's. Sorry, but it's true. I wish it wasn't.
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