Since the airport terror bomb attack on September 11, 2001
Since the airport terror bomb attack on September 11, 2001, airport security in the United States of America has considerably improved. Since then, September 11 has been set aside as an anniversary day in the United States to remember the assault and reflect on the measures taken to avoid a repeat of it. It is noteworthy that the United States has spent over $100 billion just to guarantee the safety of its airports. However, it is crucial to recognize that terrorism is a long-standing and highly dynamic problem, and that despite all efforts, it will take centuries to create and realize a society free from terrorism. In spite of this, I believe that the United States government has done a lot to secure the States Airline security through security improvements such as sealing off access to the cockpits, performing greater scrutiny on the passengers, and implementing new screening technology.
Security improvements
As far as airline protection is concerned the cockpit of the aircraft remains sealed off from access by other individuals other than the pilots onboard. Since the attack, in September 200, aircraft were immediately fitted with impregnable doors that are responsible for restricting access to the cockpit for the whole flight time. However, there are exceptions to these restrictions where the pilots can take breaks to the restrooms which are outside the cockpit, but it remains locked at all times. The flight attendants have undergone sufficient training to ensure they comply in the application of these exceptions. In extension to flight security, the security workforce was strengthened regarding increasing their number from below 100 before the attack to about 5000 after September 2001. With time, however, this strategy has increasingly weakened as a result of poor motivation and lower morale of the security personnel. The plan of further securing the airline is expected to ensure double door fitting to secure the cockpit for Boeing and Airbus (Peterson, 2017).
Scrutiny for travelers and airline attendants
Since the attack incidence, scrutiny for travelers and airline attendants has been heightened. The identification documents must be very clear and correct with a perfect match with the ticket, and these are efforts to distinguish between the known and the unknown. Such a process enhances the intelligence of the United States Airlines (Blalock, 2007). Nonetheless, every effort meets its challenges, and the implementation of this procedure was faced by resistance from travelers as they claimed that they would be prone to unacceptable profiling which may complicate their privacy. Another challenge was to achieve the goal of establishing a pre-check program to travelers. Today, this goal has been achieved through the United States TSA which has enrolled about 3.6 million members. The TSA has even better plans to enroll over 25 million travelers in the pre-check program by establishing online enrolling programs.
Upgrading the scrutiny and verification of passengers
The process of upgrading the scrutiny and verification of passengers would have been incomplete if professionalism and federalization were not enhanced in the screening personnel. Before September 2001, the United States airlines were dominated by incompetent human resource as far as the screening was concerned. The screening personnel were inadequately trained with less professionalism and suffered from demotivation and dissatisfaction as a result of the poor payments and insufficient workforce. The number of airport screeners was below 20,000 which is far much below adequacy and recommendation, a factor that contributed to the success of the attack as the attackers found it easy through to the aircraft. To address the menace, the government withdrew the airline's management, and the full responsibility bestowed to the government itself through the TSA. Today the number of the airline screeners has risen above 42,000 equipped with professionalism and under a federal body of employees. However, some deficits causing some security disturbances are still traceable. Cases of weapons penetration to the airport are overwhelmingly upcoming, and this will require the TSA to upgrade training of the screening personnel for good results. In front for consideration is privatizing the screening workforce which is expected to streamline the operation.
Upgrading screening technology
Other than enhancing screening workforce, screening technology has been upgraded to entail the sensing of weapons and bombs. Before the attack, there was negligence in the scrutiny of the luggage especially luggage for domestic flights because the domestic flight's luggage was moved directly to the plane after the checkup thereby increasing the chances for terror attack (Ito & Lee, 2005). Today the airlines have been equipped with detection machines at airport lobbies and in-line screening systems for bag screening. Body scanning systems have also been fitted in the airlines to lower chances of suicide bombers penetrating through the airports. Detection systems that can detect materials such as liquid explosives are due implementation by the TSA.
Effective, low-cost measures
Upgrading of these systems in the American Airlines probably can be termed as one of the most expensive investments that the States government has done. However, I believe there are more effective security measures that can be put in place at a lower cost. One of the cheap means to curb terrorism in the United Airlines is the government policy. The government should develop policies that outline the illegibility of traveling with the United States Airlines. These policies should be strict enough to seal even the smallest loophole that the terrorist may exploit. For instance, restricting and controlling immigration is one critical thing in the airline's security.
The government should put in place regulations that do not permit anyone with a single element of a crime to cross the States border using the United States Airlines limiting the movement of criminal immigrants through the airport (Power, 2014). Cost-effectiveness of this strategy is that the government will task intelligence and law enforcement institutions with the responsibility of securing the airports. These bodies are known for effective security operations that leave nothing to chance. Through this strategy, the government will save the cost of training personnel. Moreover, these bodies will use their already established security infrastructure to carry out their operations saving the cost of acquiring new equipment by using the already existing security system.
Additionally, it will be much cheaper to invest in motivation and empowerment programs for the security personnel which can ensure efficiency and effectiveness than investing in unnecessary staff training. When employees have morale and are well motivated they deliver productivity, this extends even to honesty faithfulness in employees operations. Reports indicate that before the attack the security personnel seemed demotivated and of low morale which probably led to negligence which consequently resulted in the success of the attack.
In conclusion
In conclusion, it is true that the United States government has done and invested a lot in securing its airlines. The sealing of cockpits from access to only the pilots, the greater scrutiny for passengers, the use of new screening technology, and an increase of airport staffing have improved security in the airports. However, much needs to be done to phase out and outperform the growing intelligence and the new technological methods increasingly adopted by terrorists.
References
Blalock, G., Kadiyali, V., & Simon, D. H. (2007). The impact of post-9/11 airport security measures on the demand for air travel. The Journal of Law and Economics, 50(4), 731-755.
Ito, H., & Lee, D. (2005).Assessing the impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks on US airline demand.Journal of Economics and Business, 57(1), 75-95
Peterson, B. (2017). How Airport Security Has Changed Since 9/11. CNT. Retrieved 4 July 2017, from http://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-airport-security-has-changed-since-september-11
Power, J. (2014). Migrant Workers in Western Europe and the United States: Pergamon International Library of Science, Technology, Engineering and Social Studies. Elsevier.
