We're Not El Al

As of Saturday, November 27, 2010

Geoff Cutler certainly brings up some good criticisms of the current TSA approach to airline security (Nov. 21).

His comments and recommendations suggesting that El Al security should be used here, however, are made in ignorance.

It has been some time since I was flying into and out of Ben Gurion airport, but these things have not changed very much.

Israel has one international passenger airport. It handled under 11 million passengers in 2009.

El Al has 43 or 33 (depending upon whom one talks to) passenger aircraft. Several of those are short-range models.

All El Al layover aircraft at foreign airports are parked away from terminals and guarded by armored vehicles and armed troops.

Their interviewers are extremely well-trained and also question outgoing crews. This does result in superior security, but how would we implement these procedures here with our huge number of “international” airports and more than 750 million passengers a year?

I hope someone can come up with a suitable answer.

R.G. Rime

Pinehurst

More like this story

debsalomon 2 years, 5 months ago

I'm no math whiz, but you state that 11 million passengers pass through Ben Gurion airport annually, and 750 million passengers go through hundreds of US airports. Why can't each US airport handle its 11 million passengers just like Ben Gurion handles theirs? I have flown into and out of Ben Gurion several times...in the 1980s, before the security blitz we experience now. The process was formidable; each passenger scrutinized with experienced eyes, many (including me) taken into booths for rigorous questioning and body search. The agents are more brusque than polite. Who cares? Just knowing this will happen has been a deterrent, I'm sure. And I'll betcha El Al pays no more per capita for screening than the TSA. Something else: I fly to Montreal every six weeks. This is a known port of entry for undesirables en route to the US. I have observed how Canadian and American Customs/Immigration profile passengers. Maybe profiling is unfair and racist, but history suggests otherwise. If everybody must submit to x-ray or pat-down, then maybe profiling isn't so bad.

geoffcutler 2 years, 5 months ago

It's interesting Deb that there's this growing argument against behavioral profiling that somehow because we have so many more passengers and airports in America than Israel, that we wouldn't be able to handle it either economically or procedurally. We can fly to the moon but we can't ask a few questions of airline passengers?

Also, the point seems to have been missed in my original piece. I was profiled by auxillary security agents at Logan before I reached the scanners. These agents were plain-clothed and highly trained. They asked me the same types of questions that passengers are asked at Ben Gurion. To some degree, it seems this enhanced layer of security is already in place.

fugitiveguy 2 years, 5 months ago

Isn't it odd that the lefties have no problem with men, women and children being groped and fondled for the illusion of security but to single out the people who look like the people responsible for the vast majority of airline terrorism for additional scrutiny gives them the worst possible of discomforts.

dustyrhoades 2 years, 5 months ago

"Isn't it odd that the lefties have no problem with men, women and children being groped and fondled for the illusion of security"

Have you not been paying attention at all or do you just like making stuff up?

pinehurstmom 2 years, 5 months ago

Flew this weekend into a major airport-did not see a single person get scanned or patted down.

clodfelter37 2 years, 5 months ago

I heard a couple of ladies saying they were going to book a flight in hopes of a full body pat down.

fugitiveguy 2 years, 5 months ago

"Have you not been paying attention at all or do you just like making stuff up?"

If I liked making things up I'd by definition be a lefty.

OldPilot 2 years, 5 months ago

Poor old "fugitiveguy", can't tell his right from his left. Both ends of the spectrum have argued for and against X-ray screening as well as patdown searches on various grounds, sometimes the same arguments are used by both. The problem is that the fugitiveguys of this world try to make everything a shallow, one dimensional, them versus us, one syllable political issue. Life isn't that simple, even for the simple.

fugitiveguy 2 years, 5 months ago

"The problem is that the fugitiveguys of this world try to make everything a shallow, one dimensional, them versus us, one syllable political issue."

I'll keep that in mind. Thanks a bunch.

peterprints 2 years, 5 months ago

What ya'll haven't addressed in this airport security story is the concept of "shared sacrifiice". Everyone in Isreal who comes of age...gays, straight males and females and lesbians all have to serve in the military. Everyone, I repeat EVERYONE is a soldier in Israel. It is that midset that allows them to deal with the deaths of their citizens at the hands of terrorists. They know that every citizen is a soldier in the battle. Here in the good old USA we have a dedicated micro-minority who are defending us and dying so that we can go and see the latest Harry Potter movie in safety. Yet for some reason, if this feeling of safety might require someone touching our tah tahs or winkies we just won't have it. To hell with those gals and guys in fatigues in the Mideast who are about to drive over an IED. "I don't think I should be molested by the TSA on my way to a cocktail party in New York City to raise money for the Wounded Warriors". Baloney, If you want to take on the Israeli airport security program than you have to take on the Israeli war against terrorism mentality: EVERY CITIZEN IS A SOLDIER. What that means is that every citizen is expendable in the fight against terrorism. It also means that every citizen is in the fight against terrorism. We can't leave it to the micro minority of heroes that have hauled our water for far too long. If you want heroes to stand up and take a bullet for you then ya'll have to put up with a bit of inconvience. Be honest...wouldn't you trade public safety for a brieft squeeze of you family jewels. I'm so convinced that the answer would be "yes" that I'm even more convinced that the hub-bub over this is political...shame on them.

debsalomon 2 years, 5 months ago

Again, it's not the money (for more effective screening) lacking, it's the method. You're right about the Israeli mentality...everyone IS a soldier. I have been on Israeli beaches where the lifeguards carried guns...just to intimidate swimmers who ignored warnings about rip tides and undertows. This doesn't seem to halt suicide and car bombers, but it might be much worse otherwise. I don't know how many planes carry air marshals but I'll bet every El Al flight has at least one onboard. This seems like a relatively inexpensive deterrent. I'm also worried that, with heightened awareness about passenger screening, the terrorists will develop new, less-detectible methods...perhaps by using women and children. As a frequent flier I spend a few minutes scanning my fellow-passengers in the departure lounge. You just never know...

marathonman 2 years, 5 months ago

Lots of wonderful comments here. I had the honor and good fortune to work with MOSSAD many years back and right after Entebbee. Their approach was simple and still is; start profiling from the moment anyone attempts to buy a ticket on EL AL. They then interview while the folks are in line and if someone can not pass the smell test....literally, they are interviewed more seriously. However, groping is good if it does catch someone trying to smuggle some combustible onboard. At this point, the bad guys are already researching different techniques. We need to be smarter and more vigilant than hiring lots and lots of folks and creating a whole new agency if we intend to come close to the success that EL AL has achieved.

debsalomon 2 years, 5 months ago

The airlines have a huge responsibility that I do not believe is being met. This happened to me two weeks ago, departing Montreal for Detroit, on Delta: The check-in/security procedures routinely take an hour. Last stop: A customs/immigration agent who stamps passport. This one asked if I had checked any baggage. I said no. However, when he scanned my boarding pass, the photo of a SMALL KNAPSACK came up...I guess every checked bag is scanned in. He asked me if it was mine. I replied no. He immediately shut down his position, escorted me into a holding area, called other agents who made Delta find the knapsack and remove it from the not-yet-departed flight (not mine) for examination. They also found the passenger who belonged to the bag (with a name similar to mine) and questioned us both. I almost missed my flight. The mistake was Delta's...however, would not checking a small knapsack (at $25 per bag) raise a flag...especially since it accidentally ended up on a different flight than the passenger??? I'm sure this is what set security in motion. I was frightened...don't want to end up on the no-fly list because of the airline's blunder.