Keiah Vail
Professor: Seitu Stephens
COM/156
April 29, 2012
Research Paper: Airport Security
Airport security includes the procedure of guarding public transportation by airplane, as well as the terminals from which passengers of aircraft arrive and depart. Airport security has drawn the attention of the American public for invasive pat-downs, body scans and various news reports on concerns from TSA on failures to catch contraband items.
A lot of people often wonder what is the reason for pat downs and body scans. Pat-downs are used to resolve alarms at the checkpoint, including those triggered by metal detectors and units. Pat-downs are also used when a person chooses out of screening in order to detect potentially dangerous and prohibited items. Because pat-downs are specifically used to resolve alarms and prevent dangerous items from going on a plane, the vast majority of passengers will not receive a pat-down at the checkpoint. All passengers have important rights during a pat-down. You have the right to request the pat-down be conducted in a private room and you have the right to have the pat-down witnessed by a person of your choice. All pat-downs are only conducted by same-gender officers. The officer will explain the pat-down process before and during the pat-down. Instead of making everyone strip down, the TSA has organized a type of body scan screening machine that let passengers skip the undressing part. The machine “undresses” you by using either x-rays or millimeter radio waves. The backscatter x-ray technique is the one getting the most publicity at the moment. In this machine, visualize a beam of low-power x-rays, similar to a laser beam in dimensions, scanning across your body, left to right, top to bottom. The machine paints an image of the backscattered results point by point, and an agent looking at the image can see things like metals, ceramics and explosives attached to a passenger’s body. The image that comes back is basically an image of a naked human body. People are often wondering what the concerns with the airports security methods are. Passengers feel like they have no right. If they refuse to get pat down are searched they could be fined are ever sent to jail.
Many people don’t like the idea of having photos of their naked bodies taken by any means. In addition, there are a number of stories of abuse and leaked images, which doesn’t help in that regard. Because x-rays involve ionizing radiation, many people have health concerns. Some passengers feel they are singled out for closer examination because of there ethnic background and religious beliefs. Some News reports on issues with TSA surfaced the web for instance like the story on Ellen Terrell, a wife and mother, says she was forced to go through the naked body scanner three times at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas After receiving an odd compliment about her "cute figure" by a female screener, Terrell says she was summoned to three separate radiation blasts in the naked body scanner and if not for objections made by the female screener Jonathan B. (2012). Are in issue that occurred with a young boy where TSA was caught on tape patting down a three-year-old in a wheelchair, and swabbing the boy's body, cast, and chair for explosives Ethan H. (2012). Visibly shaken throughout the entire experience, the young boy is seen on camera shaking and scared while his father, who was filming the incident.
Due to TSA careless ways management decided to crackdown on lax or improper screening at Newark Liberty International Airport has resulted dozens of agency employees’ were being taken off the job for retraining or discipline, according to TSA and union officials. Steven S. (2012). To pick up the slack, sources say, the agency has had to call in replacement screeners from outside Newark Liberty, a so-called 9/11 airport with a history of high-profile security breaches and leadership problems. TSA officials have been trying for years to improve Newark’s security screening but its lapses have remained a continuing frustration, and at times an embarrassment, for the agency. The latest effort to improve screening operations began last year under Newark Federal Security. TSA failure on terrorist attack resulted in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Bush Administration introduced reforms in the screening process. A major component of these reforms was the establishment of the cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security, and the TSA. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, involving the use of four separate planes leaving from Boston, Newark, and Washington, DC and resulting in the deaths of 2,975 people was a wake up call to federal officials. Subsequent investigations of how the terrorists succeeded in their attacks in New York City and Washington, DC highlighted the shortcomings of the security screening process and resulted in drastic changes for air travelers. TSA issues on passenger’s delays from searches violated the privacy of US citizens, the scanners are also quite slow compared to other security technology. Metal detectors are pretty much rapid as the passenger walks through it, it will beep if it determines that the passenger is carrying something containing metal. The chemical residue scanners are a bit slower, but they are not standard for every passenger, and only used when the TSA determines it is appropriate, either due to suspicion or random-scan. The x-ray scanners take time as they need to set up the passenger in an appropriate position, capture the image, have the image read by the remote security personnel, and then relay the results back to the personnel at the security checkpoint. Many airports already found their security checkpoints overwhelmed following the introduction of other, less time-consuming security measures, and there is concern that additional delays could increase pressure on security personnel and make them less effective rather than more so. TSA is not being necessarily effective despite all these concerns, it still is not clear that the scanners are capable of detecting a number of significant threats. Importantly, they cannot detect low-density materials such as powders, liquids, thin films, any material that resembles skin, or anything concealed internally. Also of concern is that security personnel may become overly reliant on technology at the expense of human intelligence. Even a full-body scanner is unlikely to catch all possible threats, and there is concern that security personnel might come to rely too much on technology rather than relying on their own judgment.
I hope my research paper has informed you with detailed information on how the airport security has drawn the attention of the American public for invasive pat-downs, body scans and various news reports on issues from TSA on failures to catch contraband items and the concerns of passengers on the issues at hand.