AnalysisPerimeter security: much is yet to be done

As the French say, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Much has been changed with regard to air travel security, but there is an aspect of airport security which stubbornly resists change: perimeter security.

A year-and-a-half ago, in February 2008, we ran an article by Lynn Welch of ICx Imaging Systems, a business unit of ICx Technologies (“Airport Security Challenges,” 11 February 2008 HSNW). The good thing: it was an insightful and useful discussion of the issue of airport security. The bad - or scary — thing: The article is as relevant today as it was in February 2008.

Complicated task
Welch noted that U.S. airports face unique and integral challenges. “They are, together, a high-wire act balancing billions of dollars worth of commercial freight traffic with commercial air traffic, along with all of the FAA, TSA, and regional and local security requirements. The layers of security required to maintain this fragile equilibrium resemble the rings inside a tree trunk, adding more on each year and continually evolving.”

Securing the air travel and air cargo industry is difficult - but also exceedingly complicated. Airline security, Welch noted, is typically split between commercial passenger and baggage screening, security inside the buildings and grounds of the airport, and security of the airport property perimeter. “All are handled by different federal, regional, and local agencies.”

• Commercial passenger and baggage screenings fall under the direct administration of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). TSA develops screening procedures, staffs checkpoints, and manages the flow of travelers and contracted screeners. This receives the lion’s share of public attention, but it is only a fraction of the total security requirement.
• Extensive systems are in place for securing the interior of facilities, which includes employee screening and external building security. Commercial freight facilities often have their own security personnel, guarding building perimeters and controlling building access. Information sharing between commercial shipping, freight companies, airport police, and administrators differ among airports, which are hamstrung both by disclosure regulations as well as by multiple software and hardware technologies.

Thus, airport police may not have jurisdiction over the privately leased facilities of a commercial freight entity. What is more, even if there is transparency of security-information sharing, different and often incompatible monitoring software systems may be employed for securing the facilities. “It is not uncommon for different commercial companies to each use a different security system, with the port authority using yet another monitoring system. Just as interoperable communications are a key vulnerability to our nation’s first responders, interoperable security sharing is a challenge for airport authorities,” Welch notes.

Perimeter security
What does not help is the balance between security mandates and the actual responsibility of airport administration. For instance, perimeter security falls under TSA oversight, but it is largely left to local agencies, such as the local port police department. TSA must approve a local security plan, but port authority police carry out the daily task of guarding the airport’s perimeters. TSA is not responsible for the development of airport security plans (ASPs), but it does set mandates and requirements. “This is the equivalent of requiring someone to build a house to specification, and then not providing a blueprint,” Welch writes. Each local airport is responsible for its individual ASP. TSA examines each ASP to ensure that it meets requirements, but airport and local law enforcement are responsible for carrying out the plan. “Considering this monstrous juggling act of commercial freight, commercial airlines, passenger traffic, and ever-increasing competition among airports for business, it is a miracle that any airport administrator gets any sleep at night!” Welch says.

The next step in airport security
To date, Welch writes, mandates from TSA are not extensive and solidified for perimeter security systems, but they are the logical next step in a layered security plan. Passenger screening for explosives and weapons helps ensure that one portion of the system is safe, “but it provides a false sense of security if a terrorist should infiltrate the fence line with a large-scale weapon, or a chemical or biological agent. Thus, protecting the perimeter, as well as beefing up employee screenings, are the next obvious solutions.”