Airports these days are tedious things.
Every time I travel, I arrive at the airport at least two hours before departure. It is a hassle — getting the Ziploc bag ready with make-up, lotions and chapstick, taking the laptop out of the bag pack, taking my shoes off, etc. All of these things are annoying, but they have a purpose: to keep us all safe from possible terrorist attacks. As much as we might think security is at its highest, I recently heard something interesting on CNN. Airport security is not as effective as most of us thought it was.
The CNN special report focused on the TSA’s undercover agents program. This consists of agents posing as travelers through security and screening at the airports. These agents would carry bombs or suspicious-looking parts with them and try to smuggle them into the terminals.
The results of this test were not calming. In the Chicago O’Hare airport, 60 percent of the agents succeeded in passing suspicious items under security representatives and screenings. In Los Angeles, the figure was much higher — 75 percent — and in San Francisco, 20 percent.
Something is clearly wrong here. Security machines are not operated automatically. Employees are still behind them. This gives room for human error. The TSA states it is almost impossible to get human error to a minimum, and that there is not enough technology for screening machines to work by themselves. However, this should not be an excuse. At this point, security in the airports should be at its maximum, and room for error should not be permissible.
Millions of people travel every day. This means there is also room for millions of threats to happen. It is dangerous to travel nowadays.
So, what has been done? So far, the TSA has been able to implement some programs such as the SPOT (Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques) program, which utilizes behavior observation and analysis techniques to recognize possible threatening individuals. Also, the Federal Air Marshals have increased in number and are now present in most U.S. and international flights.
These programs will hopefully make airports safer and enjoyable (although I am not sure if the latter task will be an easy one).
