Airport Security

Glaring Holes In Traditional Airport Security

Benefit from Technology Expenditures

New Types of Airport Security Devices & Systems

The past decade has seen an increased number of terrorists acts where airline security and travel are concerned. Disasters like the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in 1989, the explosion of TWA Flight 800, in 1996, and the increased threat of terrorism during the Gulf War spurred concerted efforts towards increasing airport security. If we wish to look at the origins of aviation security, we can follow its footsteps back to Public Law 93-366, the Air Transportation Security Act of 1974, and the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1974 (Protection, 1999). However, before the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, airport security consisted mainly of insuring that weapons were not taken abroad aircraft. From that time on, it became necessary to create surveillance systems to detect explosive devices that may be placed on aircraft by terrorists. To this affect, technology has been increasingly used to help create the most sophisticated security systems possible. Nonetheless, there are many obstacles in the way of achi

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gh to rest his foot on the wheel of a plane without being question or stopped by any airport personnel. One of the biggest problems with old airport security measures is that they were fairly dependent on the human element, which means plenty of room for human error. The Department of Transportation stated after its 1993 investigation that, while airport security measures have improved since previous investigations, they are still greatly flawed, “Forty percent of the time we were able to penetrate through restricted areas of airports. We were able to bring a hand grenade through a carry-on baggage checkpoint and to drive an unauthorized vehicle onto the air side of the airport. Security levels have improved since TWA 800, but are they what they ought to be? No!” (Gets Better, 1997, 1). New Security One of the biggest obstacles with the use of technology and sophisticated airport security measures is cost. In fact, many critics of airport security argue that one of the biggest reasons for such glaring holes in security systems stems from too little resource allocation in that area. Airport security systems using sophisticated technology do not come cheap. One terrorist action can have a dramatic impact on airport securi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1697
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)