on reacting by exercising new regulations and new measures that simply respond to the previous major aviation terrorism incident, whether it was actually realised or only attempted. The hijackings of the 1960s and 70s spawned the airport security checkpoint, acts of aerial sabotage (most notably the Air India and Pan Am bombings) brought about checked baggage screening and then the 11th September 2001 attacks on the United States generated a whole range of fresh security practices, many of which would have had little, or no, effect on the prevention of suicidal terrorists boarding flights. And the list goes on. In many airports, security regulations, since the notorious ‘Shoe Bomber’ Richard Reid, require us to take off our shoes; and ever since the 2006 UK liquid explosives plot, we are banned from taking our favourite bottled drink past the security checkpoint. The terrorist attempt on Christmas Day 2009, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, and tried to blow up the plane by injecting chemicals into a package of Pentrite explosives which was concealed in his underwear, initially made the full body scanners extremely popular in airports, overriding the former dilemma of possible privacy and civil rights breaches, albeit that certain States and regions are fast backtracking on this process or, at least, on the technologies that can be used to effect body scanning. I keep on preaching in articles and at conferences of the
A Personal View I
Expressed by Omer Laviv
n the world of aviation security we seem to be stuck in a constant state of ‘fighting the war that just ended’. Innovation is always on the terrorists' side, whilst we keep
…I have a dream about the establishment of an international body, dedicated to aviation security intelligence …
dire need to create a proactive aviation security system, rather than the current passive and reactive one. Indeed, in some airports we have seen some change. Nevertheless, there is still a big ‘black hole’ in our system, and I am referring to that of ‘intelligence’. If we mean what we say, in that we need to win the war against terror, we had better start acting as if we are at war. There is no modern military force in the world that doesn't have a strong intelligence capability. Except, that is, our ‘soldiers’ in the war against aviation terrorism. The world today is one of ‘Big Data’ - an explosion of information that mostly comes from open sources. Much information exists within ‘our own’ systems - the ticketing, the immigration, the visa application systems - But we don't
make much use of it because countries don't share this information, and because airlines don't share their business data. Whilst I understand the concerns, it seems to me that we need to override the bureaucratic obstacles and find a way to share information for the greater good. In addition, much information exists out there in cyber space. In this world, where terrorists from various parts of the globe are actively using forums and chat rooms to exchange information and ideas in order to plan their next terror attacks, it is essential that aviation security includes capabilities such as data gathering and harvesting. We need to be out there, with our best intelligence analysts, and to attempt to anticipate the next attack – target, place and scenario. The investigation into Abdulmutallab highlighted our weakness. Suspicious signs regarding him existed, but in too many unrelated and disconnected systems, and in too many countries (United States, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, UK and The Netherlands) that were not effectively communicating with each other. The lack of an holistic system that could connect the dots and create an alert could never have been made clearer. I have a dream about the establishment of an international
body, dedicated to aviation security intelligence, comprising the best available analysts, equipped with sophisticated KMS (Knowledge Management Systems) enabling them to gather data, analyse it, extract knowledge and create early warning systems. This international body (I even have a name ready – IASIC, the International Aviation Security Intelligence Council) would collaborate with national intelligence organisations (CIA, MI5, Mossad etc) and would serve as the focal point for all aviation security related information and intelligence. With its sophisticated technology, high level of personnel and methodology, it would never be lagging behind the enemy. Rather, it would anticipate its next move and make sure we are prepared for it. Unfortunately, it is just a dream. Or is it?
The author is the CEO of Athena GS3 Security Implementations Ltd, which develops technological state-of-the-art platforms for aviation security and intelligence.
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February 2013 Aviationsecurityinternational
THE F INAL WORD
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