Israel Matzav

'Israelify' airline security

I think I've pontificated enough about airline security over the last couple of days, so I won't do another long post about it now. Yes, I think the US, Canada and Europe should all adopt Israel's security system (in fact, that's what I thought would happen when Boston Logan hired a former director of El Al's security shortly after 9/11).

But I did want to point you to a few more articles about. First, there's this forum in the New York Times in which the question of whether it's possibly or desirable to adopt the Israeli system is discussed. All of the comments in the top part are worth reading except for the last one, which decides to slam Israel with a whole bunch of ad hominem attacks. But don't worry because that guy gets slammed in the comments below.

The other article I wanted to point out is this one from the Toronto Star, which actually has some details about Ben Gurion Airport security that I had not noticed.

At the check-in desk, your luggage is scanned immediately in a purpose-built area. Sela plays devil's advocate – what if you have escaped the attention of the first four layers of security, and now try to pass a bag with a bomb in it?

"I once put this question to Jacques Duchesneau (the former head of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority): say there is a bag with Play-Doh in it and two pens stuck in the Play-Doh. That is `Bombs 101' to a screener. I asked Duchesneau, `What would you do?' And he said, `Evacuate the terminal.' And I said, `Oh. My. God.'

"Take (Toronto's) Pearson (airport). Do you know how many people are in the terminal at all times? Many thousands. Let's say I'm (doing an evacuation) without panic – which will never happen. But let's say this is the case. How long will it take? Nobody thought about it. I said, `Two days.'"

A screener at Ben Gurion has a pair of better options.

First, the screening area is surrounded by contoured, blast-proof glass that can contain the detonation of up to 100 kilos of plastic explosive. Only the few dozen people within the screening area need be removed, and only to a point a few metres away.

Second, all the screening areas contain `bomb boxes.' If a screener spots a suspect bag, he/she is trained to pick it up and place it in the box, which is blast proof. A bomb squad arrives shortly and wheels the box away for further investigation.

"This is a very small, simple example of how we can simply stop a problem that would cripple one of your airports," Sela said.

Read the whole thing.

Finally, you should read Michael Totten's description of what happens to him when he flies through Ben Gurion Airport. Michael's been to Lebanon and met with Hezbullah, and Israel's airport security regards with suspicion people who have done that.

Come to think of it, I wonder what happens to Lisa Goldman when she goes through Ben Gurion these days.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:31 PM