Agent-based vulnerability assessment at airport security checkpoints: A case study on security operator behavior

Stef Janssen,Arjan Van Den Berg,Alexei Sharpanskykh

doi:10.1016/j.trip.2020.100139

Abstract

Despite enormous investments in airport security, terrorists have been able to find and exploit vulnerabilities at security checkpoints. Existing vulnerability assessment methodologies struggle with accounting for human behavior, and agent-based modelling forms a promising technique to overcome this limitation.This paper investigated how the decision-making and performance of human operators can be taken into account while assessing vulnerability at an airport security checkpoint. To this end, an agent-based model was designed, in which the performance of security operators was modelled using a functional state model, while decision making was modelled using decision field theory. Passengers and an attacker that brings a weapon to the security checkpoint were also explicitly modelled as agents. Simulation results indicate that the highest skilled operators outperformed their lowest skilled counterparts on analyzing X-ray images, but performed worse on both searching luggage and performing patdowns. Furthermore, results showed that a high focus on speed of security operators leads to a decrease in luggage searches and therefore increased vulnerability.More work is needed to calibrate and validate the simulation results, but initial results are promising. The agent-based model can be used by airport regulators and managers to understand the workings of their security checkpoint better and ultimately to reduce vulnerabilities.

Highlights

Despite enormous investments in airport security, terrorists have been able to find and exploit vulnerabilities at security checkpoints
This paper investigated how the decision-making and performance of human operators can be taken into account while assessing vulnerability at an airport security checkpoint
Both these results are an indication of the vulnerability of the security checkpoint, as both performance and decision making directly influence the number of secondary screenings and weapon confiscations

Summary

Introduction

Despite enormous investments in airport security, terrorists have been able to find and exploit vulnerabilities at security checkpoints. In the years after 9/11, aviation has been targeted by several bombing attempts (BBC News, 2006; Edmunds, 2010; Burns, 2010), such as the shoe bomber (CNN, 2001). Each of those attempts exploited new vulnerabilities and bypassed the security checkpoint successfully. It is only after such an attempt that new regulations and procedures are developed to address the exploited weakness in the security checkpoint. This reactive approach leaves airports vulnerable to innovating attackers. This problem is well recognized within the scientific literature, but developing a method that accurately assesses all vulnerabilities in a security checkpoint is a challenging task

Results

Discussion

Conclusion