How Israel Screens For Terrorists
Hint: It's not by cavity-searching old Mrs. Smolovsky. A three-minute video by Martin Himel for the WSJ:
Note that their employees don't seem to be people who only got into the security biz because McDonald's wasn't hiring that week.
And over at Slate, here's what we're spending our security dollars on, from a piece by Anne Applebaum:
Having started with 13 employees in January 2002, the TSA now employs 60,000, and in the process of its lavish expansion, the organization found it had money for all kinds of extras. As I wrote in 2005, some $350,000 of its $6 billion budget once got spent on a gym; $500,000 went toward artwork and silk plants; and untold millions are spent every year in overhiring, since the determination of when there will be long security lines at an airport has never really been the sort of thing at which the federal government excels. As for the Department of Homeland Security, its 2010 budget came in at $55 billion, some of which (according to economist Veronique de Rugy, writing in 2006) will invariably be spent on things like the $63,000 decontamination unit in rural Washington, where no one was trained to use it; more biochemical suits for Grand Forks County, N.D., than the town has police officers to wear them; and $557,400 worth of rescue and communications equipment apparently needed for some 1,500 residents of the town of North Pole, Alaska. Not to mention what is spent on the "needs" of the constituents of other important members of Congress....And from the very beginning, Congress has fought back against the critics, repeatedly allocating money to unnecessary local projects, reacting to sensational news stories, spending money in ways that suit its members, and then declaring itself shocked--shocked!--to discover that our multibillion-dollar homeland-security apparatus was unable to stop a clearly disturbed Nigerian from boarding a Detroit-bound plane.
...Imagine, instead, that the TSA's vast budgets were dedicated to the creation of a cutting-edge computer network, one that could have made the security officers in Amsterdam instantly aware of the warning from the underwear bomber's father.
Thanks, Patrick!
Exactly.
The TSA wants to do airport security like McDonald's does french fries: build a machine and hire the dumbest worker you can.
But what works for burgers and cars doesn't work for this.
And of course fear of dumb "racism" lawsuits figures into the decision.
Israel delivers BETTER security with LESS inconvenience to the majority of innocent passengers.
And no, it's not racist - Arabs in Ben-Gurion airport who can answer the questions and don't act fidgety are not subjected to mistreatment.
Ben-David at January 6, 2010 12:59 AM
Costa Rica doesn't do it the Israeli way either:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/dailydish/detail?entry_id=54639
Comedienne Joan Rivers has laughed off a passport mix-up in Costa Rica on Sunday, during which she was detained at an airport.
Security guards held the funny woman before she boarded a flight to Newark, New Jersey, when officials questioned the wording of documents listing her married name, Joan Rosenberg, as well as her stage moniker.
Rivers missed her flight and had to spend another night in Costa Rica before she could board a plane home, but she's determined to see the funny side of the incident.
She tells the New York Daily News, "If I were going to make up an alias, I wouldn't pick Rosenberg. I'd pick Jolie or Pitt. Do terrorists wear Manolo Blahniks? I can tell you Donna Karan does not make anything that hides a bomb.
"I tried the tears; they didn't work. I tried reasoning. I couldn't bribe because I didn't have any money. I said 'I'm going to have a heart attack over this,' so the woman called the paramedics."
Suki at January 6, 2010 1:38 AM
You're most welcome darling. I especially liked the point made by Boaz Ganor beginning at 1:07. Yes, some might be inconvenienced by being asked a few more questions (as opposed to being inconvenienced by being made to take off your shoes), but just because you're not in keeping with someone's "liberal democratic values," it doesn't mean you're endangering them. You're against ethnic profiling? Fine. You're still going to be profiled.
Patrick at January 6, 2010 2:29 AM
Here's Patrick Smith on the issue...
Radwaste at January 6, 2010 2:32 AM
And don't miss this breathtaking story of ineptitude: honey ID'd as an explosive!
Radwaste at January 6, 2010 2:42 AM
Honey? That's so fucking stupid.
I'm a firm supporter of ethnic profiling. Give me back my liquids to carry on, and let me keep my shoes on.
Patrick at January 6, 2010 3:05 AM
Amy,
This post made my blog and facebook post too!
Caught this later:
Israeli Military getting Lawyered Up for Combat
Suki at January 6, 2010 5:40 AM
According to USA Today web-site. 6 Russian police officers were killed and 16 wounded by a suicide bomber.
Guess who the suicide bomber was? An annoying Frenchman? A Kamikaze Japanese citizen? A war like German? No. Johnny you guessed it. It was a ....... wait for it...... A Muslim.
Are anyone of our oversized egotistical government officials paying attention? This isn't rocket science.
David M. at January 6, 2010 6:22 AM
"This isn't rocket science."
No kidding, huh? And what do *we* gain by going through all sorts of unnatural acts to ensure that "everyone gets treated the same"? Some smug sense of moral superiority?
Mind-boggling.
other Beth at January 6, 2010 7:06 AM
large federal agency that spends money on lotsa feelgood programs that do little? check.
and we are surprised why? they have always been political theatre, and even BETTER, it's bi-partisan! New and Improved. OI. There are very few places that I would need to fly, that aren't just as convenient to drive. Take it all into account... an extra 2 hours each way to clear security, plus the little extra to make sure you make the flight. The fees for getting to or parking at the airport. The hassle of figuring out what things you can pack in your bags and what can't be. The wonderful feeling of getting to your destination to find that a couple of gifts have mysteriously dissappeared from your bags. The hassle of renting a car at your destination [add another hour each way +]
PLUS the pleasent experience of flying when you are 6' tall...
Yeah, it's not all peachy driving 12 hours to Phoenix... but it's a beautiful country and it's more flexible. There are hidden costs either way. But the convenience factor is worth a fair amount to me. Yeah, you fly soCal to Detroit, because that's 2000+ miles of driving, the scale tipped the other way... but if it's 1000 or less?
SwissArmyD at January 6, 2010 8:33 AM
Via McCardle, here are some of the reasons noted by an Israeli on why their model - successful though it is - is not likely to be workable in the U.S:
Those who favor Israeli-style security on U.S. flights need to address both of these issues, and explain how they can be afforded without crippling our economy.
Whatever at January 6, 2010 8:59 AM
I've experienced the full might of the Israeli security and it was terrifying. I did realize two things, though. Never fly from Egypt to Israel and after spending a couple years regularly flying out of Logan that they are doing an amazing job.
JNM at January 6, 2010 9:48 AM
In the US, racial profiling is... unpalatable,
Every new incident makes it more palatable.
But I agree that it's difficult to fully implement a system like Israel's here. Still, aren't there some things we can learn? Like giving lots of extra scrutiny to people with Arabic names? Or to people from countries with majority Muslim populations? Or people who pay cash for their tickets at the airport, as the pantybomber did? And even if your average screener isn't alert enough to pick up on subtle signs, can't there be one or two higher-level, better-paid people hanging around at each checkpoint, looking for suspicious signs? All or any of these ideas would improve security. Just taking the focus off looking for bottles of water would improve security, b/c it would let everyone refocus on more important things.
kishke at January 6, 2010 10:52 AM
One reason Israeli security is so good is that for a long time, there weren't enough good, well-paying jobs in Israel. Last time I was there, my security person was a woman with a PhD in chemistry. She grilled me and my camera crew because we'd staying in the American Colony Hotel, where most journos stay, and she probably thought we shared the sympathies of said journos.
I asked her if she did the same routine for the American ultra-Orthodox who usually stay at the King David. She admitted that she likes to ask the men if she can do a full-body search, which annoys them greatly!
KateC at January 6, 2010 11:28 AM
All Israelis must enter the military after high school. College follows military service. Security agents are college graduates, some with a psych major. Thus all Israeli security agents are post military with higher educations than our own security agents.
But Israel has fewer planes and fewer flights than the US. Thus, they can concentrate highly educated and motivated agents to those flights. Though Israeli security is a goal to be desired, it seems a Herculean effort to have a sufficient number of security personnel with Israeli-like qualifications at all US airports and flights.
Nick at January 6, 2010 1:09 PM
I ran into a guy that was a troubleshooter for his company (i.e. when he arrived on your site the rest of everybody had no clue).
He flew so often and was on the watch list that he could tell the ticketing agents when they coded his ticket wrong.
The reason he was on the watch list -- he was a jew who went to Israel on their side in 1973.
Jim P. at January 6, 2010 5:08 PM
TSA = "Thousands Standing Around"
It used to stand for "Two Stupid Agents"
Ian at January 6, 2010 6:55 PM
Sadly, money doesn't always buy competence.
Robert W. at January 7, 2010 12:40 AM
The scalablity issue really falls apart upon examination.
Except for a few hubs, traffic through airports largely correlates to the size of their host cities. Which assures an employee base.
And you really don't have to be a college grad or have special expertise to do this.
Israeli-style screening can be done by students - and by those who would otherwise choose sales training, tech support, or other non-academic career paths.
I think older folks seeking part-time shift work could also be effective.
A privately hired screener doing things the Israeli way would probably cost less than a TSA employee and attendant bureaucracy.
Ben-David at January 7, 2010 6:04 AM
I really don't think it's a good idea to plan our security around the idea that the next guy's dad will be willing to warn us...
We need to have some way to identify the person who, without warning, shows up at an airport planning to commit this kind of terrorism.
jen at January 7, 2010 8:01 AM
The scalablity issue really falls apart upon examination.
Not so. Assuming you are granted that enough decent people could be found to do this work (an assumption I doubt), the scalability issue also goes to time.
Part of what makes things work in Israel is that it is far more homogenous than the U.S., and likely problem people are more clearly defined. Security there knows that Jewish (i.e., most travelers) = screen very quickly, Muslim = screen the heck out of them, everybody else = somewhere in between. Determining who gets light scrutiny in the U.S. is a far more complicated matter; to achieve a comparable level of certainty that one has caught potential threats would involve screening a much larger proportion of travelers quite closely than is necessarily in Israel. Doing so would make air travel incredibly onerous.
Whatever at January 7, 2010 2:08 PM
Determining who gets light scrutiny in the U.S. is a far more complicated matter;
Still, there's lots that could be done even here in the US, as I pointed out above.
kishke at January 7, 2010 2:46 PM
Still, there's lots that could be done even here in the US, as I pointed out above
Yes, and you make some good points. I think that incorporating many of the things you suggest + a large random element to make it harder for terrorists to predict what determines screening into a model weighting who gets extra scrutiny makes sense.
Whatever at January 7, 2010 2:55 PM
My current computer sucks at running videos, unless they're from Youtube, but as I understand it, El Al agents interview each passenger before allowing him/her on board the plane. Compared to them, the TSA is just another government jobs program.
mpetrie98 at January 8, 2010 9:33 PM
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