Mad Monkey II: The game changer

 

The turning point in aviation security (AVSEC) came on September 11, 2001, commonly referred to as 9/11 when four commercial aircrafts which took off from three different airports in the United States were hijacked mid-air by 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists in a coordinated attack; two of the aeroplanes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York both of which collapsed, one aeroplane crashed into the west side of the Pentagon, the headquarters of U.S. military and one aeroplane targeting either the White House or the Capitol Building crashed in a field as the passengers fought the hijackers. The death toll is estimated at around 3,000 and almost 6,000 persons have been estimated to have been injured in the incidents. This was the first time that aircrafts were used as weapons, with devastating effect. Prior to this incident, there were widely variable standards of aviation security enforcement practised by different countries. Countries which were not much affected by terrorist incidents did not imbue civil aviation security with adequate seriousness. 9/11 changed all that. Worldwide, policy planners and governments woke up to the seriousness of the threats related to civil aviation security and to the realisation that no aviation operation is safe unless all aviation operation is safe from terrorist depredations. As a result, worldwide, AVSEC and screening procedures became more stringent and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) sought to initiate measures for closer monitoring. 

Several studies were undertaken to analyse the failures leading up to the 9/11 attacks. The Unites States set up a 9/11 Commission which submitted its final report in 2004. One Transport Security Administration study found that before 9/11, although there was registered baggage reconciliation with the passengers, only 5 % of the baggage was screened for explosives. According to an FAA evaluation at major airports in the United States, hand bag and passenger screeners missed approximately 20 % of potentially dangerous items.

After 9/11, many countries passed laws to make aviation security more robust and there have been growing “surveillance state” and “safety state.” Surveillance has involved monitoring of suspect persons and groups on a continuous basis and safety state is a regime of a broad range of policies which may include Advance Passenger Information (API), Passenger Name Record (PNR), watch lists, no-fly lists, etc. and coordinated plan for security. Post 9/11 period has seen enhanced front-end screening, increase in security staff hiring, shift of screening from private operators and outsourced agencies to governmental agencies, upgradation and integration of security technology, especially explosives detection systems and improvement of training practices and standards. These new measures included “social sorting” whereby certain groups of passengers were marked out for differential security screening treatment. Prior to 9/11, Germany’s asylum policies were liberal. Investigations revealed that some of the terrorists involved in the 9/11 attacks had taken advantage of this and resided for some time in Germany. Post 9/11, German Parliament passed Air Security Act that contained a number of regulations for harsher security screening at airports and empowered the government to take military measures to deal with terrorism aboard an aircraft. Other new laws addressed effectiveness of intelligence and law enforcement. Canada enacted Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act. United Kingdom passed the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. New Zealand enacted the Terrorism Suppression Act, 2002. The United States created the Department of Homeland Security for coordination of all anti-terrorism efforts and enacted USA Patriot Act. The Act gave the government the authority to detain foreign terror suspects for a week before being charged. It also gave sweeping powers for monitoring telephone communications, email and internet use by terror suspects. The biggest change in the United States was the creation of Transport Security Administration which took over the screening of passengers and luggage from airports and private agencies and also exercised oversight on the entire gamut of AVSEC. All the registered baggage was screened for explosives through four methods: an Explosives Detection System (EDS), Explosives Trace Detection (ETD) machines, bomb-sniffing dogs and manual bag searches. As a result, EDS and ETD screen 90 % of the baggage. The remaining baggage was checked by bomb sniffing dogs and manual searches. There was massive increase in recruitment and training of screeners. Post 9/11, many countries assigned Air Marshals to flights. Bullet-proof cockpit doors with cameras were installed to alert the pilot/s of suspicious activities in the cabin. Countries like Sweden, Norway and Finland which had only a system of random security checks for domestic flights switched to 100 % screening. Some airports installed “dirty bomb” detectors.

Both the process and technology for screening of passengers, baggage and cargo have undergone major transformation. All passengers and crew are made to go through a sterile hold area (SHA) where they are admitted only after security screening of their person and hand baggage. In some countries, certain categories of persons, e.g., flight crew were exempted from screening. That has been sought to be stopped. The lists of another category of persons, VVIPs (Very Very Important Persons), who were earlier exempted from screening, have been pared down. The training standards of the screeners have been enhanced. Many countries have introduced body scanners and specialised detectors to “recognise” certain types of threats. Bigger airports have introduced in-line baggage screening HBS systems to screen registered baggage. Cargo screening agents have been brought under the regulatory and audit ambit of the security regulators of the country. Some countries have introduced a cargo SHA also.