[ISN] Tin Stars in the Sky

From: InfoSec News (isn@private)
Date: Sun Jan 18 2004 - 22:46:06 PST

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    http://www.zyworld.com/brancatelli/bf2004/branc011504.htm
    
    BY JOE BRANCATELLI
    January 15, 2004
    JBrancatelli@private
    
    This has been on my mind a lot since September 11th, but it took the
    events at Washington/Dulles airport this week to convince me to put it
    out in the public domain.
    
    What if everything we're trying to do with airline security is wrong?  
    I don't mean any particular procedure or an isolated policy. I mean
    the basic concept, the entire approach to security.
    
    What if trying to keep the skies safe by proactively pre-screening
    passengers before they board a flight is just wrong? Wrong because it
    takes too long, annoys too many and misses too much. Wrong because it
    costs too much and catches too little. Wrong because, in point of
    absolute fact, it just doesn't work.
    
    And what if there is a better way, a tried-and-true way that
    law-enforcement officials around the planet use successfully every day
    of the week.
    
    Before we get to what I've been thinking about, we need to make sure
    we are on the same page with what happened on Tuesday night at Dulles
    and on Wednesday morning at London's Heathrow airport, when the
    security lapse hit the metaphoric fan. It really is important that we
    know--and understand--exactly what happened because it shows all the
    flaws of and misconceptions about how we do airline security now.
    
    If the wire-service reports have it right, a 45-year-old Sudanese man
    arrived at Dulles Airport on Tuesday evening. We have to assume he
    approached the security checkpoint and did what we all do: Took off
    his coat, took off his shoes and put his carry-on bag on the belt for
    the X-ray machine. We have to assume he passed through the
    magnetometer. In fact, there is no reason to assume he didn't clear
    all the security regimens that have been so onerous at U.S. airports
    in general since 9/11 and at Dulles in particular after a slew of
    Dulles-bound flights from London were delayed or cancelled for
    security reasons during the year-end holidays.
    
    The Sudanese man boarded Virgin Atlantic Flight 22 and it took off
    around 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday evening. He flew uneventfully and arrived
    at Heathrow airport at around 7:15 a.m. local time. The Sudanese man
    then approached a security station at Heathrow because he was ticketed
    to board an Emirates flight to Dubai.
    
    At about 7:40 a.m., however, he was detained at the security
    checkpoint and arrested by Scotland Yard. The reason? He was carrying
    five bullets. "A quantity of suspected ammunition was found in his
    possession," a statement from the Yard explained. "The items are being
    forensically examined."
    
    What did we learn from this bizarre incident?
    
    Well, obviously, the first thing we learned is that all of our
    security checkpoints and searches are all for naught. Over and over
    again--and again on Tuesday evening at Dulles--we have learned that
    our proactive pre-screening measures are demonstrably ineffective.
    
    We learned something else: This Sudanese passenger carried dangerous
    contraband through security, boarded the plane and flew it across the
    Atlantic Ocean without endangering or harming his fellow passengers.  
    As far as we can tell, he just happened to cross the pond with a
    pocket full of ammunition. He had no interest in doing anything but
    getting from Washington to London so he could catch a flight to Dubai.  
    And, at this time, there's no fact or extrapolation of fact to suggest
    that he meant any harm to the Emirates flight.
    
    And I think we learned one other thing: It may be time to try
    something new, something radical. It may be time to assume that
    passengers are innocent until they are seen committing an actual
    crime. Forget about what they are carrying and focus instead on making
    sure no one is about to harm their fellow travelers.
    
    In fact, it's time that we consider policing airplanes like we police
    city streets. Get rid of all the X-ray machines, the magnetometers,
    the security checkpoints, the security screeners and all the other
    stuff. Put a couple of armed, uniformed marshals on every flight and
    let them police a plane like they police a city street.
    
    A radical idea? Yeah, probably. Out there? Absolutely. But
    impractical? Maybe not.
    
    Let me ask you a question: When you get up in the morning and leave
    your home or your hotel, do you have to pass through a magnetometer to
    get onto the street? Do you have to run your briefcase through an
    X-ray machine to go onto the sidewalk? Before you jump into your car,
    do you have to pack your Swiss Army Knife or your cuticle scissors
    into a piece of luggage so you don't have it with you as you cruise to
    the shopping mall or the supermarket?
    
    Of course not. In a free society, we assume you are an adult and need
    not be searched before you are allowed to go out in public. We let you
    carry Swiss Army knives, scissors and even the odd firearm. And we
    have uniformed, armed cops on patrol to keep order in case you
    misbehave.
    
    So why don't we try it for planes? As our Sudanese friend proved on
    Tuesday night, even the stringent security measures at an airport we
    are supposedly watching extra carefully will not screen out
    everything. Without working very hard, you can get a clutch of bullets
    or a knife or god knows what else on a plane. And what our Sudanese
    friend also proved is that just because you're carrying bullets or a
    Swiss Army Knife or really pointy scissors doesn't mean you're about
    to try to hijack a plane.
    
    So why not mothball all the checkpoints and the X-ray machines and the
    phalanx of security screeners peering into security monitors? Why not
    put two armed, uniformed marshals on every flight and try and get back
    to something like the old normal. Have the air cops police the aisles
    during every flight just like they walk a beat on the ground.
    
    This tin-stars-in-the-sky approach would undoubtedly be cheaper than
    what we're doing now. It would rightfully assume that 99 and 44/100
    percent of passengers mean no harm, even if they are carrying a few
    bullets or a knife or, heaven forfend, a pointed stick. It would
    guarantee that we wouldn't have to strip down in public just to board
    a plane.
    
    And, perhaps more to the point, it would guarantee that every plane
    would have armed, competent, uniformed peace officers keeping us safe
    in the skies. It would guarantee that every flight would be protected
    by law-enforcement professionals if some lunatic does try to hijack a
    plane--or just gets into a fight over the armrest with the passenger
    in the middle seat.
    
    With the best of intentions, we've been trying to proactively
    pre-screen airline passengers for more than a generation. It really
    hasn't worked all that well. Even after the horrifying events of 9/11,
    people can still waltz onto a plane with a pocketful of bullets.
    
    Maybe it's time to switch to the tin-stars-in-the-sky approach. Put
    uniformed cops on every plane, assume every aircraft aisle is Main
    Street USA and see what happens.
    
    
    
    
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