How Israel handles airport security
thestar.com
How Israel handles airport security
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Re: How Israel handles airport security
#2Article leaves out the very real and very big catch:
"Israel values its security, and pays for it. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does."
A little more on that:
"[An analyst] estimated El Al's security bill at $100 million a year, which amounts to $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers. Half is paid by the Israeli government," Peter Robison wrote. The United States, in comparison, spent in 2008 $5.74 billion to monitor and protect 735,297,000 enplanements, or around $7.80 a passenger."
The TSA system is a production line - hire cheap unskilled labor, and train around a process and manuals.
In the USA the Israeli version would be very difficult in addition to very costly.
That doesn't even take into account the question of the uproar the system would cause with the suggestion of racial profiling.
References via:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a...
and
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/07/would_you_pay...
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#3The biggest problem with adopting the Israeli model IMO is with resources. You would have to spend a lot of money training and hiring people who would be good at behavioral profiling.
The other problem is that Israel is a tiny country, they only have two international airports -- so they can focus all of their resources on those two airports. That's not the case here in the US.
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#4Yeah, we have the best airport security in Israel ;)
I witnessed a case, when a guy, who joked with the "profiling" girl, was escorted to his jet by security guard.
I second, that profiling is not by race, but behavior (and maybe accent). Their questions can be funny and sometimes even rude.
Still it's better than removing your shoes, posing naked and getting radiation.
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#5Article leaves out the very real and very big catch: "Israel values its security, and pays for it. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does." A little more on that: "[An analyst] estimated El Al's security bill at $100 million a year, which amounts to $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers. Half is paid by the Israeli government,"…
The TSA system is a production line - hire cheap unskilled labor, and train around a process and manuals.
This is the big thing that popped out at me from reading the article. The personnel described sound highly experienced and trained. I wonder how long and how much it would cost to bring your standard TSA screener up to that level.
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#6Article leaves out the very real and very big catch: "Israel values its security, and pays for it. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does." A little more on that: "[An analyst] estimated El Al's security bill at $100 million a year, which amounts to $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers. Half is paid by the Israeli government,"…
The other thing it omits is the difference in treatment between Arabs and non-Arabs.
Profiling is inevitable. If you don't know who is threatening you and pay special attention to those people then you are a fool. But most of those people aren't threatening you and will feel aggrieved, this is how resentments grow and fester. EDIT choosing who you pay attention to is obviously key, casting your net too widely is what ticks people off.
These are not easy problems to solve without removing the cause of the discontent which is making people threaten you in the first place.
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#7Article leaves out the very real and very big catch: "Israel values its security, and pays for it. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does." A little more on that: "[An analyst] estimated El Al's security bill at $100 million a year, which amounts to $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers. Half is paid by the Israeli government,"…
I disagree on both counts.
1. Costs: I think the value of preventing a terrorist attack greatly outweighs the $76/passenger cost of screening. Besides, it contributes a lot of value to the economy by (a) reducing the long lines we have in our airports today and (b) eliminating the unnecessary intrusive procedures
2. Racial profiling: Behavioral profiling is not the same as racial profiling. Besides do you really think that the low-paid unskilled TSA workers don't currently do any racial profiling ?
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#8While the rest of the world has plenty to learn from the Israeli security model, there are two caveats which are left unmentioned:
1) Israel is a small country and is able to quickly identify terrorist threats via intelligence gathering. This is not something you can scale globally.
2) It would be naive to think that profiling is not done on a racial basis. Plenty stories exist about Arab-Israelis being unnecessarily harassed by security. Same stories for Jewish-Israeli? Almost none. Racial profiling is a big part of the game.
One thing is certain - the entire world must stop the masquerade going on these days at airports. "Security"? Give me a break.
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#9Article leaves out the very real and very big catch: "Israel values its security, and pays for it. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does." A little more on that: "[An analyst] estimated El Al's security bill at $100 million a year, which amounts to $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers. Half is paid by the Israeli government,"…
Economy of scale? Israel has far fewer people, far fewer flights and far fewer airports than the US.
Re: How Israel handles airport security
#10Article leaves out the very real and very big catch: "Israel values its security, and pays for it. According to an analysis by Bloomberg News, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does." A little more on that: "[An analyst] estimated El Al's security bill at $100 million a year, which amounts to $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers. Half is paid by the Israeli government,"…
The TSA system is a production line - hire cheap unskilled labor, and train around a process and manuals. This is the big thing that popped out at me from reading the article. The personnel described sound highly experienced and trained. I wonder how long and how much it would cost to bring your standard TSA screener up to that level.
I think this is outside the realm of possibility for many current TSOs.