The Transportation Security Administration is the agency within the Department of Homeland Security that is mandated to protect the United States transport system. The agency has made many strides in ensuring the people and goods in transit are safe. But, like other agencies, TSA, has issues and challenges it must address to ensure American citizens and their properties are safe. The agency, works together with other partners like Israel whose airport security is advanced so as to learn and exchange ideas. In this paper, I will look on the screening and surveillance that TSA and America in general can learn from Israel.
Israel airport security systems focuses on the travelers and not what they are carrying. If a passenger is cleared, then even what he or she is carrying is considered to be okay (Kloosterman, 2010). But, in U.S. airports the luggage is given priority. The TSA screening at airports are intended to find out what a passenger is carrying. Do the security officers at the U.S. airports really interrogate travelers with a mind of detecting terrorists? The pat-down is for looking foreign carried objects, the same for luggage’s and carry-on baggage (Transportation Security Administration, n.d.). U.S. security systems need to focus on individuals more than what is in luggage. It is very easy for a terrorist to travel without dangerous objects and materials and then acquire them local on American stores.
The “human factor” concept works well in Israel. The security system prevents risky individuals from accessing the airliners. Individuals are screened by polite and welcoming officers, screening of travelers starts before one even knows he or she is being screened, that is, before entering an airport. Israel uses both uniformed and plain cloth officers to screen passengers. The airport staffs are not overworked or underpaid like in the U.S. This makes them to focus on individuals and are able to know when conflicting answers are provided during screening which is mostly not physical like removing shoes, pat-down and long lines (Lowrey, 2010).
The difference between Israel security systems employed at their airports and those in the United States can be traced on what each nation values. While, security of Israel is paramount beyond individual rights, the American esteems individual privacy as it is stipulated in the American constitution in the Fourth Amendment. In Israel airports, their systems allow for racial and tribal profiling, individual of Jewish origin do not undergo rigorous searches and interrogations like their Israel-Arab counterparts (The Associated Press, 2007). This is because individuals with Arab origins are riskier than those of the Jewish origin. Such profiling is termed as discriminative by the American authorities. But, is it unethical to group individuals according to their origin in order to secure American airports? Where should the Federal, state and local authorities draw a line between individual privacy and citizen’s safety?
The screening at American airports is too aggressive. It goes against privacy laws. The constitution and courts does not allow warrantless searches of American citizens, but, travelers are even asked their gadgets passwords. The security officers at the airports reads photos, private files, emails and social media chats of innocent travelers without legal consent. It is the travel desperation of passengers that makes them yield to security officers requests. But, it is argued that if TSA officers seek warrants it would make terrorists to destroy the crucial information they have (Megerian, 2018).
The security cost at Israel airports is met by the government. This makes the government to have a huge security budget. On the other hand, the American government does not allocate DHS enough funds to match Israel airport security systems. If the U.S. government want to secure its airports to the standards of Israel, then it must employee more staffs in the DHS to carry out screening effectively and allocate enough budget of acquiring up to date technologies. In Israel, their idea is that “if you increase the security, you are going to have to increase the staff. (Martin, 2016)”
At Ben Gurion, the most secure airport in the world travelers arrive three hours before departure. This gives Israel security officers enough time to screen them. In U.S. travelers arrive two hours before departure and they complain about the long waiting time. Israel travelers are concerned about their security when in transit and thus they comply to the set standards unlike American citizens. This makes the DHS offices not to have enough time to screen the travelers thoroughly. While, there is enough face to face conversation between Israel security officers at airports, in America the security personal screening people at the airports are glued to the screening screen. This denies the American security officers enough time detect suspicious behaviors of travelers (Martin, 2016).
In conclusion, there is much the government of the United States can learn from Israel. This starts from screening, budgeting, security technology and so on. The United States security agencies need to foster a good relationship with Israel security teams in order for them to learn and collaborate more.
Israel airport security systems focuses on the travelers and not what they are carrying. If a passenger is cleared, then even what he or she is carrying is considered to be okay (Kloosterman, 2010). But, in U.S. airports the luggage is given priority. The TSA screening at airports are intended to find out what a passenger is carrying. Do the security officers at the U.S. airports really interrogate travelers with a mind of detecting terrorists? The pat-down is for looking foreign carried objects, the same for luggage’s and carry-on baggage (Transportation Security Administration, n.d.). U.S. security systems need to focus on individuals more than what is in luggage. It is very easy for a terrorist to travel without dangerous objects and materials and then acquire them local on American stores.
The “human factor” concept works well in Israel. The security system prevents risky individuals from accessing the airliners. Individuals are screened by polite and welcoming officers, screening of travelers starts before one even knows he or she is being screened, that is, before entering an airport. Israel uses both uniformed and plain cloth officers to screen passengers. The airport staffs are not overworked or underpaid like in the U.S. This makes them to focus on individuals and are able to know when conflicting answers are provided during screening which is mostly not physical like removing shoes, pat-down and long lines (Lowrey, 2010).
The difference between Israel security systems employed at their airports and those in the United States can be traced on what each nation values. While, security of Israel is paramount beyond individual rights, the American esteems individual privacy as it is stipulated in the American constitution in the Fourth Amendment. In Israel airports, their systems allow for racial and tribal profiling, individual of Jewish origin do not undergo rigorous searches and interrogations like their Israel-Arab counterparts (The Associated Press, 2007). This is because individuals with Arab origins are riskier than those of the Jewish origin. Such profiling is termed as discriminative by the American authorities. But, is it unethical to group individuals according to their origin in order to secure American airports? Where should the Federal, state and local authorities draw a line between individual privacy and citizen’s safety?
The screening at American airports is too aggressive. It goes against privacy laws. The constitution and courts does not allow warrantless searches of American citizens, but, travelers are even asked their gadgets passwords. The security officers at the airports reads photos, private files, emails and social media chats of innocent travelers without legal consent. It is the travel desperation of passengers that makes them yield to security officers requests. But, it is argued that if TSA officers seek warrants it would make terrorists to destroy the crucial information they have (Megerian, 2018).
The security cost at Israel airports is met by the government. This makes the government to have a huge security budget. On the other hand, the American government does not allocate DHS enough funds to match Israel airport security systems. If the U.S. government want to secure its airports to the standards of Israel, then it must employee more staffs in the DHS to carry out screening effectively and allocate enough budget of acquiring up to date technologies. In Israel, their idea is that “if you increase the security, you are going to have to increase the staff. (Martin, 2016)”
In conclusion, there is much the government of the United States can learn from Israel. This starts from screening, budgeting, security technology and so on. The United States security agencies need to foster a good relationship with Israel security teams in order for them to learn and collaborate more.
