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Recent Research and Commentary

Airport Policy and Security Newsletter #75

Secondary barriers more cost-effective than air marshals, EU airlines protest high speed rail subsidies, TSA checked-luggage screening fiasco, taxiing airliners with the engines off

January 10, 2012

Robert Poole

In this issue:

• Secondary barriers more cost-effective than air marshals
• EU airlines protest high-speed rail subsidies
• TSA’s checked-luggage screening fiasco
• Taxiing airliners with the engines off
• News Notes
• Quotable Quote

Airport Policy and Security Newsletter #74

Landmark noise settlement in Ft. Lauderdale, backscatter body scanners under new scrutiny, niche airlines and airports test new business models

December 9, 2011

Robert Poole

In this issue:

• Landmark noise settlement in Ft. Lauderdale
• Backscatter body scanners under new scrutiny
• Europe’s “Better Airports” report--not
• Niche airlines and airports test new business models
• Airport finance Webinar next week
• News Notes
• Quotable Quotes

 

TSA's PreCheck Trusted Traveler Program Is a Good Idea, But Has Some Big Flaws

November 7, 2011, 12:01pm

Robert Poole

The TSA has rolled out the test phase of its PreCheck trusted traveler program at American’s hubs at Miami and Dallas/Ft. Worth and Delta’s hubs at Atlanta and Detroit. As an AA Platinum member flying mostly out of Miami (MIA), I volunteered and got selected.

So far, I’ve used the program twice—and both times I did not have to remove my shoes, belt, or jacket, nor did I have to take anything out of my bag (neither laptop nor liquids).

Airport Policy and Security Newsletter #73

Replacing federal airport grants with PFCs, cheering TSA's PreCheck, security theater vs. risk-based approach to cargo screening

November 4, 2011

Robert Poole

In this issue:

• Could PFCs replace federal airport grants?
• Two cheers for TSA’s PreCheck
• Why the rise in runway incursions?
• Cargo screening—security theater vs. risk-based approach
• Can privatization fix Brazil’s airports?
• News Notes
• Quotable Quotes

 

"Get Your Freak On" Baggage Screener Gets Disciplined by TSA

October 26, 2011, 9:57pm

Robert Poole

The TSA continues to find ways to violate air travelers. After a baggage screener left Jill Filipovic, who was flying from Newark Airport to Dublin, Ireland, a note in her luggage that said, “Get your freak on girl,” I’m dismayed to see that the TSA only “disciplined” the screener who wrote a “highly inappropriate note” in the bag that was searched.

TSA Isn't Looking for Guns In Checked Luggage - And You Don't Want Them To Start

October 24, 2011, 3:32pm

Robert Poole

Media reports are expressing alarm about the fact that a loaded handgun was found by Alaska Airlines baggage workers loading bags on to a flight at LAX on Sunday. The Los Angeles Times declared, "Security officials at LAX fail to detect loaded gun in bag,"  The gun fell out of a duffel bag that had been screened along with the rest of the checked baggage for the flight.

Despite all the hand-waving, guns in checked baggage are not illegal (though they are supposed to be disclosed to the airline and packed unloaded). Nor are they a threat to the safety of flights. And the idea that TSA should minutely inspect everything in checked bags would not only add costs and time to the bag-screening process. It would also make an already overly-intrusive TSA into even more of a threat to people’s privacy and liberty.

We need to distinguish here between what is being looked for at passenger checkpoints and what is being looked for in checked baggage. At the passenger checkpoint, TSA is instructed to look for anything that might be used as a weapon by a passenger during the flight—knives, guns, explosive vests, underwear bombs, shoe bombs, etc. Many aviation security experts believe, correctly in my view, knives and guns are not as serious a threat as they were prior to 9/11. That’s due to both strengthened and locked cockpit doors and the vigilance of passengers and cabin crews to resist any attempt to gain access to the cockpit.

Checked baggage screening is a different story. Here, the threat being guarded against is explosives. It is to detect explosives in checked bags that airports and the TSA have spent billions purchasing several thousand huge explosive detection machines. They use equipment similar to CAT scanners to check for objects with a density similar to known explosive substances. If a potential object of this type is detected by the machine, the bag is flagged for closer visual inspection.

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