Flyplassikkerhet - Curt Lewis

 

Airports Look at Technology to Extend Security

LONDON-The mass casualties caused by last week's attacks in Belgium are spurring interest in tools to enable police to spot suicide bombers and other potential attackers from afar-as well as a warning that technology alone isn't a fail-safe. 

The blasts in the departures hall at Brussels Airport, which killed at least 16 people, showed the contrast between the wide-open landside of airports and the tightly secured airside, after passengers and their bags have been screened. 

"The aviation-security checkpoint has been under intense scrutiny, it is heavily regulated, it works," said Matthew Finn, managing director at security consulting firm Augmentiq. "But we still find ourselves with public spaces, such as the check-in area in Brussels, that are vulnerable."

The European Union's Committee on Civil Aviation Security called an extraordinary meeting for Thursday to take stock of what happened and exchange information, a spokesman said. "We have to be much better at using technology," a senior European airport security official said.

Pini Shiff, a former head of security at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport, said airports in Europe and elsewhere are far behind Israel in airport security measures, and that the answer isn't just more technology.

Israel has long used a multilayered approach, including stopping cars before they reach the airport and questioning the occupants. At the terminal, highly trained behavioral-observation specialists are deployed to spot when things look odd.

Airports in Europe are resisting calls for security checks at the entrance, warning that would create new bottlenecks where passengers would be even more vulnerable. That has prompted technology companies to look for systems that can spot threats as passengers enter a terminal.

"When you are talking about mass transit and the high throughput of people, it is important that you don't disrupt that throughput," said Zak Doffman, chief executive of security-equipment provider Digital Barriers PLC.

The London-based company has developed sensors to detect hidden threats, such as suicide belts or submachine guns, at a range of 50 feet.

The ThruVis camera, small enough to be hidden, can see through clothes and detect concealed objects as people walk by, the company said. Smaller weapons, such as handguns, can be seen at 20 feet.

Mr. Doffman said the equipment is already in use at some airports, which he wouldn't identify, and "we are seeing really renewed interest at the moment."

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has been working with British defense-technology company QinetiQ Group PLC on a body scanner aimed at finding possible weapons at a range of about 50 feet.

It has seen limited use at some airports and other transport hubs, the Farnborough-based company said. QinetiQ in 2014 won a TSA contract to reduce the size of its scanner for potential wider use.

The European Union has been gradually stepping up its efforts to detect explosives at airports. After years of screening checked bags, it last year introduced explosive trace detection equipment at the security checkpoints where passengers pass into the boarding area.

Many of the current systems to detect explosives such as triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, which was used in the Brussels attacks, require using sensors close to the explosives or taking a swab.

Detecting the explosive from afar is more of a challenge, though "there are many, many companies trying," said Jimmie Oxley, an explosive-materials expert at the University of Rhode Island.

International regulators are weighing action. The International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations' aviation-oversight body, last week said security provisions for all areas of airports are undergoing a review. 

"Effective, sustainable security in public spaces poses complex challenges," ICAO President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said. The group reviewing security plans to meet next month, he said.

The same is true for mass transit and public spaces. The blast inside a Brussels subway car on March 22 killed another 16 people.