Risk based screening and explosive detection at the passenger screening checkpoint

Abstract

Recent threats to aviation security have focused on the passenger screening checkpoint. To name a few, the Christmas Day 2009 bombing attempt, the UK liquid threat of 2006, the Richard Reid shoe bomb attempt 2002, and the 9/11 highjackings. A number of new technologies and processes have been implemented to meet this increasing threat at the checkpoint such as the liquid, shoes, and laptop procedures which are generally viewed as tolerable annoyances but the body imagers and enhanced pat-downs are viewed more broadly as an invasion of privacy. Yet even with all these new technologies and processes it is not clear that the system will meet the threats facing it. Even more onerous, invasive, costly, and operationally intensive processes are needed to detect the diverse threats aimed at the checkpoint. It seems inconceivable that new measures or some of the more invasive current measures should be used on every passenger. It has been generally agreed that checkpoints and possibly other security processes need to move to a risk based screening system where a measure of threat is accumulated for each passenger using the least invasive approaches first and only applying the most onerous processes to the highest risk passengers. To that end we have been bringing together the key elements of the passenger screening process to develop comprehensive Risk Based screening for the passenger screening checkpoint. This system will include screening technology, ID Authentication, Biometric verification, Background information assessment, and Behavior analysis.