Airport Staff Access Control
t the beginning of 2001, I
A
was working as a project
team leader at Aéroports de
Paris (covering Roissy, Orly
and Le Bourget),
modernising the access
control system. During a moment of
madness, we considered the concept of
changing the traditional magnetic pass
used by the airports authorised personnel
for an interactive microprocessor that
could be implanted into each person’s
earlobe! These smart chips would have
enabled the staff to move around the
airport with ease, accessing zones to
which they were permitted entrance and
facilitating the tracing of their location by
management. Of course, that was a
delirium worthy of an Orwellian
novel…but, so what?
On 22nd December 2001, at Paris’
Roissy CDG, Richard Reid boarded an
American Airlines flight with explosive
device concealed in his shoes. The
threat was not only undetectable due to
the limitations of walkthrough metal
detectors, but also due to the laxity of
the local authority. areas could also enable an improvised even in those countries with a first class
Meanwhile, in August 2004, the explosive device to be infiltrated into an reputation.
destruction of two planes, which departed unsuspecting passenger’s bag or a cargo Mr. Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director
from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, was consignment. General and CEO, has recently expressed
brought about by two Chechen women. The In September 2005, the ease with concern about excessive bureaucracy and
failure was not only the technologies which armed people managed to get harsh regulations implemented by civil
deployed, but also due to police neglect through security checkpoints at Vienna servants that have had a detrimental
and corruption that facilitated the activities Airport alerted the authorities to the impact on the aviation industry.
of local mafia elements who conducted human failures existing at Austrian and
regular criminal activity within the airport. other international airports; further
In June 2005, the Australian authorities similar failings identified in
identified airport staff as being behind Philadelphia, London, Warsaw, Ottawa
drug trafficking at Sydney Airport. If and Paris proved as much. “Lost”
people are able to steal from luggage, the uniforms and ID cards, repeated
systemic loophole that permits such journalistic intrusions, incompetent
criminally-minded people into sterile screeners, inoperative monitoring
cameras, all caused public concern.
As has been widely reported, in August
“elipsisProject Spawn
2006, London airports were closed in the
aftermath of the alleged liquid explosive
examined hundreds of
plot to destroy trans-Atlantic airliners. And,
Asmin Tariq, a former Jet Airways security
police files at Canada’s employee, was one of those arrested in
relation to the plot.
eight largest airports
Finally, on 28th August 2006, a TV
between 2005 and 2007
report by France 2 showed how easy it
was to get onto the tarmac at Paris’
and concluded that
Roissy CDG – with the active cooperation
of some airport staff!
hundreds of people were
It’s not all negative; many positive
things have been achieved around the
involved in criminal
globe since 9/11, but there remains a lot
of work to be done by States, airports,
activity at airportselipsis”
operators and the security services –
38 Register now for FREE instant access to ASI online by visiting www.asi-mag.com February 2009 Aviationsecurityinternational
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