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Revamping Aviation Security: Non-terrorist Delta Flight 59 Exposes Ongoing Risks
By Kaufmann | February 8, 2010 1 Comment »
In a previous entry critical of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) new profiling guidelines in the aftermath of the Christmas Day attempted terrorist attempt, I suggested that instead of focusing on nationality as a profiling devise for travel screening, a different and multi-pronged strategy may prove more effective. It would entail shifting away from national identity toward a focus on the individual traveler—reviewing their passports and visas, observing their behavior, and making effective use of a well-integrated background database of individuals of concern (here). Now it becomes clear that I should also have been explicit about the obvious: aviation safety is also essential outside of the airport terminal… .Closely guarding entry and movements in the airport tarmac, and the comings and goings around idle aircraft is also key. The freezing death of a stowaway during this weekend Delta flight from New York’s JFK airport to Tokyo is a rude reminder that we cannot take the obvious for granted, and that aviation security remains flawed at a basic level.
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If nowadays a person can still slip undetected both into the tarmac of a major airport and then further slip into the landing gear compartment of a large american airliner undetected, aviation security requires an urgent review and a possible revamp — over and above what we and others had already argued after the Christmas Day bombing attempt in the Delta/Northwest flight to Detroit. .
A maintenance worker at Narita airport in Japan found the dead stowaway in the Boeing 777 aircraft. Details on this mishap are slow to emerge, but it is unlikely that the apparent stowaway was a worker in the JFK tarmac, since he would have known that such action would result in almost certain death. It thus appears that there was a double security breach — first into the tarmac itself, and then into the landing gear bay of the aircraft. Such compartment, while unpressurized, is large enough to hold an adult, and/or explosives. .
While inside the warm airport terminal every child and grandmother gets their tiny toothpaste vetted by many TSA personnel, an adult male who could have easily carried a bomb (but fortunately did not) appears to have been able to slip undetected into the very cold tarmac and aircraft. .
In lessening the relevance of this event, some may try to point out that every so many years a dead stowaway is found in some exposed bay of an airplane. In today’s security theater, where terrorist inventiveness cannot be underestimated, such rationale is feeble and reckless. .
Yet others may try to suggest out that the same Delta aircraft may have traveled from Africa days prior to landing at JFK (before flying to Tokyo), and that the stowaway may have originated in an African airport instead. .
The case for an aviation security revamp in the U.S. would be as compelling in such a situation. Obviously under such circumstances there would have been a failure to properly monitor and secure the Delta aircraft at foreign airports prior to its departure for New York’s JFK, let alone the failure at JFK to detect a stowaway while the aircraft sat at the tarmac. .
So far there has been quiet and mystery surrounding the circumstances of this case. But in light of serious previous mishaps, a serious investigation into this incident needs to take place, which ought to also look into a possible broader systemic security failure. This may further strengthen the case for a revamp in the approach to aviation security.
Topics: capture, Rule of Law, Transparency | | 1 Comment
February 9th, 2010 at 11:06 am
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