Airport Security After 9/11

Airport Security
Airport Security has been around since the first passenger and cargo flights took off. It was established to keep travelers safe but most people think of it as inefficient and ineffective and they are not necessarily wrong. Security has gone through drastic changes over the past years due to 9/11. The 9/11 terrorist attack was a major attack in 2001 directed towards the United States, carried out by a radical Islamic group. During the attack, four planes were hijacked and crashed leading to thousands of deaths. Before the terrorist attacks of 9/11, airlines were not seen as a major target of terrorism; only after the attacks did airlines become a major target of terrorist groups around the world. The terrorist attack proved

how easily the system could be breached and soon many copy cats arose. Most airports are rapidly changing and upgrading Security in order to try and stay one step ahead of terrorists groups. Security will never be a perfect system but there are many way that can improve it. If the number of security flaws decreases, the number of lives lost each year do due airline terrorism will also decrease, so it's important to be as perfect as possible.
There are many different steps in the airport security process-including screening, air marshals, dogs, pat downs, security camera monitoring, and fences- which help ensure the safety of travelers. Before you set foot in the airport, the security process starts with CAPPS pre screening. A simple background check is done after someone buys a ticket to make sure he or she isn't on any kind of no fly/watch list. Once you enter the airport you will face most of the other steps of Airport Security. The first line of defense, PSIM, is used to monitor the behavior of all personnel inside the airport. Full body screening, baggage screening, and pat down screen are the next three parts of airport security. Full body screening uses advanced imaging technology to check passengers while baggage screening checks your bag for any weapons. Many people feel the full body scanners invade their privacy so they chose to have a pat down screening instead. If you refuse to not be screened or are flagged during full body screening, you must undergo pat down screening. This is done by a TSA agent of the same gender who pats you down and scans you with a handheld metal detector to make sure you are of no threat. Baggage and body checks are not the only steps keeping you safe in the airport. Explosives technology devices and bomb sniffing dogs are also used by airports to detect bombs throughout the airport. Fences are also a important safety feature for airports, but most airports do not have them. “It's something the TSA and airport authorities should take care of urgently”(Schwartz and Creswell 92) as fences help secure the airports perimeter. The last security measure airports take is they put Air Marshals, armed federal agents dressed as passengers, on the plane with passengers. The air marshall is a passengers last hope against a mid flight hijacking. Airport security seems almost impossible to bypass but terrorist are able to do it with ease. The only way to prevent this is upgrade the current system but TSA struggles “ to find balance between beefing up security against terrorism and upholding the rights of individuals”( Airports security depends on TSA body scans and pat downs). TSA is constantly developing new technologies that insure the passengers privacy but they come at a high cost. It's a balance, do passengers want more privacy or a safer traveling experience?
The attack on 9/11 opened the eyes of security officials around the world. The attacks proved that the current security process was not up to par and that drastic changes needed to happen. TSA, also known as transport security administration, was immediately created after 9/11 in order to try improve security and prevent attacks like that from happening again. Security systems like CAPPS and PSIM were also created with TSA in order to improve security. PSIM, also known as physical security information management, is used to monitor security cameras. PSIM is programmed to monitor behavior throughout the airport, analyze the situations, and provide solutions to the problems it detects. It alerts necessary authorities of the situation, allowing them to resolve the situation quickly. CAPPS, also know as computer-assisted passenger prescreening system, was created to flag any passengers before they even step foot in the airport. The system categorizes people based on the risk they possess. People who poses no risk are put into green, little risk into yellow, and high risk into red. This allows officials to spend more time checking the people who possess a high risk rather than checking people with a low risk.
Although U.S.

is constantly upgrading and changing airport security, our security is falling behind those of Europe and Asia. “TSA still falls short in 7 of 24, or almost one-third, of critical performance benchmarks set for the agency”(Air security). TSA’s major issues include, screening failures, questionable rules, unsecure cockpits, and thin security forces. During screening, TSA agents consistently fail to identify weapons/explosives during undercover tests. Passenger screenings miss on average, 20% of all weapons carried on by passengers, pilots, flight attendants; that number is considerably too large. Another problem TSA has is their rules with what can be brought on an airplane. Items like liquid, gels, scissors, bats, etc are easily passed through security because they are seen as everyday items, but in reality, they can be used as weapons. TSA constantly changes the rules on whether items like that can be brought aboard an airplane which leads to confusion among the security crew. After 2002 when the FFA required reinforced doors to be replace, problems with the new doors started to come up. Doors began to pop open mid flight and flight attendants began breaking them (despite being reinforced) which causes major security problems. If the cockpit door is broken mid flight, the pilot had no defense during a mid flight hijacking. Air marshals would be their only hope if an attack were to happen, but only about 5-10% of flights have them. As of now the air marshal program is significantly understaffed leaving more and more planes vulnerable to attack. TSA has to really step up their game before another attack like 9/11 happens on US

soil.
Racial profiling is seen by TSA as a way to significantly improve airport security, but many argue it's not ethical . Do the pros outweigh the cons or do the cons outweigh the pros? If racial profiling was used in 2001, the attack on 9/11 would most likely have been prevented. It would also have made CAPPS more effective, which would have led to less hijackings/ bombs attacks on airlines since then. “More the half the people on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list are named Mohammed, Ahamed, or both”(book). Programmed with racial profiling, CAPPS would immediately be able to red flag passengers with those names so officials can make sure they are of no threat. Is picking out people based on their names and their looks racism though? The reason racial profiling is not currently used by TSA is because it violates American values. The 4th amendment states that a person has a right against unreasonable searches and racial profiling directly violates that amendment. An Arab or Muslim traveling might feel unsafe or targeted if racial profiling was to be used by officials. To ignore the fact that middle age Muslim and Arab males pose more of a risk would be unintelligent, however TSA must find a way to profile in a civil manner.
No matter how tight security is, if the workforce behind it is corrupt, the security process will always fail. TSA suffers major problems with workers who take bribes from terrorists to help them carry out their attack. “Staff who range from baggage handlers to mechanics to cleaning crewe are subject to either no security or to random spot checks at best”(airport insecurity) making it easy for them to sneak weapons, bombs, etc onto or into planes. A “recent arrest of Delta Air Lines baggage handler at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport who...smuggled guns aboard commercial flights not once but 17 time over eight months”(Airport Insecurity). Security breaches like that put thousands of passengers in danger. Only two major airports in the country require all employees to go through mandatory security screening before they start their day. Most airports just administer random checks which does not always catch the crime in time. It doesn't help that TSA is severely understaffed and most screeners only last a few months before they move on to another job, making it easy for terrorists to slip into the system. Most screeners are ex-cons so it's doesn't take much for corrupt individual to get hired. TSA also suffers from people posing as workers. The posers are rarely questioned and they walk right thru or around security posing a major security breach. Unlike passengers, there are many back entrances workers can use to get to their job site which do not involve a security check. They could put any kind of weapon on board without anyone knowing. Most of these problems could be solved by a simple security check and ID verification before the workers start their day. TSA has to fix the quality of their workers before it can fix the quality of the whole security system.
Airport security must constantly improve in order to try and stay one step ahead of terrorism. New technologies are being developed every year but are not used due to their high prices. In this case the price of new technologies is worth it because it could save hundreds of people lives. There will always be an unpredictable event that no can plan for, so it's important to keep all security errors to a minimum. Even the simplest security mistake could go on to cost someone their life. Security may not be everyone's favorite part of the trip, but they must realize it is there to help insure their safety. Thought it will never be perfect, people must be patient and cooperative so security officials can maximize their safety.