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How Israel handles airport security

thestar.com

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Re: How Israel handles airport security

#21

Post by MichaelSalib »

credo wrote: post #7
aresant wrote: post #2

Article 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 thin…

do you really think that the low-paid unskilled TSA workers don't currently do any racial profiling

I think they don't do much racial profiling. As a young guy of middle eastern descent with an obvious arabic surname, I've only rarely gotten extra screening. If the TSA were serious about racial profiling, I'd expect to get extra screening more than half the time I fly rather than on only 5-10% of trips.

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#22

Post by msbarnett »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #14
aresant wrote: post #2

Article 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,"…

That probably underestimates what it would cost us to have Israeli style security. In the US, we would need to pay market rates for airport security personnel. In Israel, they can pay far less since much of Israel's domestic security is provided by forced labor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription#Countries_with_and...

The upkeep on soldiers is almost certainly more than the upkeep on these minimum wage TSA contractors.

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#23

Post by yummyfajitas »

ars wrote: post #18
yummyfajitas wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That probably underestimates what it would cost us to have Israeli style security. In the US, we would need to pay market rates for airport security personnel. In Israel, they can pay far less since much of Israel's domestic security is provided by forced labor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription#Countries_with_and...

Uh, soldiers are paid. And airport security work is not by soldiers anyway, it's regular employment.

Forced labor wages As for airport security not being done by soldiers, my mistake. I only visited Israel once, but I was under the impression the airport guys were IDF. I guess I'm misremembering the uniforms. Thanks for the correction.

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#24

Post by Lagged2Death »

aresant wrote: post #2

Article 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,"…

If you were a member of Congress or a lobbyist for a security equipment manufacturer, you'd see high costs as a benefit, not a problem. As long as the cost would result in profits for a (relative) few. I think our government would gladly pay Israeli-level security costs - if it could spend it on machinery made in the USA, rather than on salaries and training.

It sounds to me like the Israelis are the ones that have a process and who are devoted to their manuals. Every horror story we hear about the TSA seems to involve TSA agents not having a clue how to behave like civilized people, let alone effective security officers, in even the most mundane situations.

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#26

Post by tshtf »

SandB0x wrote: post #19

I have dual Israeli citizenship and have flown to and from Tel Aviv quite a few times. * The line interviewers are smart people, and it's seen as a good first job after military service. In other places this might be seen as a dead-end or undesirable job. * The atmosphere in Ben Gurion is very calm because everyone feels safe (or at least I do). * The only time I've seen any mild panic was due to my (late) great-aunt…

If you were an Israeli Arab, do you think you'd feel the same way about the situation at Ben Gurion?

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#27

Post by [deleted] »

MichaelSalib wrote: post #21
credo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 thin…

do you really think that the low-paid unskilled TSA workers don't currently do any racial profiling I think they don't do much racial profiling. As a young guy of middle eastern descent with an obvious arabic surname, I've only rarely gotten extra screening. If the TSA were serious about racial profiling, I'd expect to get extra screening more than half the time I fly rather than on only 5-10% of trips.

[deleted]

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#28

Post by ja27 »

"Eight years after 9/11, why are we still so reactive, so un-Israelified?"

Because L-3 / Lockheed Martin / Haliburton / etc. don't sell training in behavior tracking / FACS? Isn't it all just a money-grab by the usual suspects?

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#29

Post by daten »

icegreentea wrote: post #11

While many of the Israel procedures might be kinda hard to implement in the States or Canada (or elsewhere), there's really a few that really should be looked at. Like the whole containment thing. "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…

Consider how many bottles of liquid the TSA confiscates in a day because they might be explosives. Now imagine actually treating each of those as if the agent really believed it was a threat in the style described in the article.

Does this still make sense?

Re: How Israel handles airport security

#30

Post by protomyth »

jakarta wrote: post #3

The 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.

You could probably recruit ex-military

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/job-site/vetsmilitary-resources...

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