The latest report about DHS red team personnel able to get prohibited items through screening checkpoints without being detected, an average of 95% of the time, is extraordinary. Even more extraordinary though is why the items were not being detected. According to the inspectors, the failures were “caused by human and technology-based failures,” John Roth,… Continue Reading
Category Archives: General Aviation Airport Security
Should Airport Police Report to TSA?
Although the article states that airport police are a “patchwork” that doesn’t report to the TSA, lets remember a few things. TSA does not report to the Department of Justice and although the air marshals and a few other TSA employees do have police powers they are inherently a security agency not a law enforcement… Continue Reading
Sky Marshalls – To be or not to be
I was getting ready to slam Adam Minter here about this article, then I read through it carefully. He has several good points and from what I can tell, this is a fairly well researched piece. First, it’s hard to measure deterrence. Can anyone tell me how often a criminal decided to steal another car… Continue Reading
The Airport ID Badge
It goes by many different names. Officially it is called the Access/ID Media, but there are various forms. There are badges that only identify the individual, then there are those that identify the individual and allow them to access doors and gates around the airport property. There have been some recent media reports about personnel… Continue Reading
Colorado Professor Appointed Board Member for Aviation Security with National Safe Skies Alliance
Jeff Price, aviation security specialist and owner of Leading Edge Strategies of Arvada, CO has been appointed as a Board Member for the Safe Skies Alliance. The National Safe Skies Alliance (http://www.sskies.org/) is an FAA-funded, non-profit, membership-based organization that serves aviation by providing impartial and effective testing and evaluation of safety and security for airports.… Continue Reading
What can YOU do about the War on Terror?
I was recently on a panel on CNN discussing the latest al Qaeda threat to aviation. In their online publication, Inspire magazine al Qaeda outlined a strategy for how to make a bomb that would get past a screening checkpoint at an airport. In that same week, I fielded about another half dozen media calls… Continue Reading
Baby in Vegas! A 9-Year-Old Hops Flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas
News is breaking today about a nine-year-old boy who slipped through security and made it on a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas. You will soon hear that the individual slipped through “airport” security but that is not entirely accurate. I am careful to use the word “aviation” security rather than airport security as apparently… Continue Reading
What will 2013 bring us in aviation security?
12th Annual AAAE Annual Aviation Security Summit and looking towards the threats in 2013 Hyatt Regency Crystal City Alexandria, VA The annual aviation security summit brought out a good line of speakers this year, featuring decision makers and policy makers, not notetakers and staffers, which always makes for a beneficial conference. Gold stars for AAAE’s… Continue Reading
Airport Perimeter Security – is it enough?
Several recent airport perimeter security breaches have brought the issue into the public spotlight. Normally, such scrutiny is reserved for the “front door,” of aviation security, which is the screening checkpoint and largely the domain of the TSA. The “back door,” employee access and perimeter security, is regulated by TSA but the actual protection and… Continue Reading
TSA’s Strategic Plan for Risk Based Security
Blogging live from the Colorado Airport Operators Association, Annual Conference, 2012, Vail, Colorado (paraphrasing as necessary) Douglas Hoffsass – Assoc. Administrator, Office of the Administrator, TSA The Right Reverend Hoffsass continues his nationwide tour to preach Administrator Pistole’s risk based security programs, most notably, PreCheck and Global Entry. I, Deacon Jeff, will attempt to pass… Continue Reading