"Boston Logan's Team Approach Is Backbone Of Security Effort"

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Boston Logan's Team Approach Is Backbone Of Security Effort
Airport Security Report


The intense scrutiny Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) received
following the 9/11 terrorist attacks motivated airport officials to set out
to build the most secure aviation facility in the United States. In our
estimation they have succeeded. 

Logan officials have shown great resolve to enhance security by creating a
proactive atmosphere in which all stakeholders share responsibility in
day-to-day operations. This approach has enabled officials to prioritize
security operations and has introduced a number of innovative practices -
some new to the United States. For these reasons, Airport Security Report
has selected Boston Logan as the inaugural winner of our "Exceptional
Performance in Airport Security Awards." 

No other airport in the United States received as much scrutiny after the
9/11 attacks as Boston Logan. Ever since, no other U.S. airport has done
more to build an internationally respected security program. 

The foundation for Logan's robust security apparatus is built on the
political will to thoroughly screen the traveling public while providing for
the airport's continued business growth. 

"The airport continues to demonstrate that it is not afraid to be one of the
industry leaders by exploring new and improved methods and efficiencies -
when sometimes it is more comfortable to follow someone else's lead - with
the overall objective of improving the benefit to the traveling public,"
said one of the five award judges, all of whom were provided anonymity. 

Another judge said that Boston Logan's quick reaction to raise the bar on
security set a precedent for airports throughout the world. "In a matter of
weeks after 9/11 - when Washington as well as the rest of the country was
exercising a great deal of confusion - Logan was engaged in a focused effort
to create high security standards, many of which were later adopted at the
national level," the judge said. "Logan's leaders have been showing examples
to other airport managers in the way they have been implementing their
responsibility by developing a strong structure of coordination and
cooperation among different agencies, under the strong leadership of the
airport manager." 

Each day at Logan begins with a standing-room only meeting at 8:30 a.m.
hosted by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), the public authority
that manages Logan, for all security personnel and other stakeholders. These
include representatives from Massport's security, operations and police
departments, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), airlines,
private security companies that work for the airlines, vendors, Federal Air
Marshals, federal law enforcement and other key officials. 

The meeting is an opportunity for all parties to share new information,
strategies, ideas, alerts and other information on the previous 24 hours and
the next 24 hours of airport operations. 

All stakeholders receive the same information in the same setting, so that
managers can exchange ideas and necessary details more effectively with
frontline staff. Thus, these officials have a daily opportunity to raise
concerns and questions, rather than reacting to directives, or a breach or
incident, or a change in the homeland security threat status. 

The meetings have helped various security personnel become familiar with one
another. This helps them overcome the walls that can build up between
agencies that have different objectives and concerns, said Thomas Kinton,
Logan's airport director. 

"Everybody feels inclusive and shares information. We provide a forum in
which to do it. That to me is where the model begins, and things just branch
out from there into all the other issues and procedures in order to go above
and beyond what is expected in the federal regulations," Kinton told Airport
Security Report. 

"This model is not about just following what's regulated for us to do, but
what we think we should do based on the intelligence that we're hearing and
seeing. We do not sit and wait for someone to tell us to go do it," he
emphasized. 

The TSA's top field officer, Federal Security Director George Nacarra,
believes the meetings sensitize all security personnel to the seriousness of
security operations and to the constant threats and vulnerabilities the
aviation industry faces. 

"It's important that everyone at the airport understands that they play a
role," Nacarra said. "The efforts here have given people a sense of
awareness as to how much security has to be part of our daily lives. The
meeting plays a great role in providing a forum to discuss the previous
day's issues, if it was a security breach, a problem with equipment that
wasn't working the way it was supposed to, or a staffing issue someplace. It
also allows us to discuss the upcoming day, and even into the near future,
as to particular areas of concern." 

The meeting emphasizes Logan's goal of empowering all parties to buy into
the security program, Kinton said. The political will has carried over into
Logan's approach to security prevention with an equal emphasis on the human
and technological detection of threats. 

Boston Logan was the first U.S. airport to install a 100 percent in-line
checked bag screening operation for each terminal. The $146 million project
took six months to complete before the Dec. 21, 2002, deadline to screen all
passenger checked baggage, and included more than 40 explosives detection
systems (EDS) supplied by L-3 Communications [LLL]. 

In the past year, the bag screening system and the scanning machines have
been improved to provide strong security detection capabilities without
disrupting traveler convenience (see Airport Security Report, June 16). 

"You can't do security without weaving it into the customer service and the
operations," Craig Coy, Massport's CEO, told Airport Security Report.
"They're not separate. They're together." 

Further, Logan has integrated a program unlike any other in the United
States that emphasizes monitoring suspicious people. After the 9/11 attacks,
Logan hired Israeli security expert Rafi Ron, president of New Age Security
Solutions in Washington, D.C., to script a new security program. 

The most innovative - and controversial to some people - measure was to
train Logan's police force in behavior pattern recognition (BPR) skills to
identify people who demonstrate suspicious mannerisms. Massachusetts State
Police Troop F, which patrols the airport, purchased submachine guns like
those used by security forces at some European airports. The troopers have
arrested some passengers on outstanding warrants or immigration violations
and sometimes insist TSA screeners give a passenger additional scrutiny at a
security checkpoint. 

The troopers also use BlackBerry devices to search criminal databases for a
passenger's name. Additional software has been added this year to validate a
passenger's identity through public records. 

A condensed version of the BPR program has been taught to airline ticket
counter agents so that all front-line security and customer service
personnel "have become the eyes and ears for each other," Kinton said.
Airport officials made the training mandatory and provided it at convenient
locations to coincide with airline personnel schedules. 

The airport has become well known for its invitations to security firms to
test leading technologies in areas where solutions have been hard to reach.
The airport has installed a perimeter security software system built by
VistaScape Security Systems of Atlanta, Ga., to monitor the airport's water
boundary for intruders. 

The airport has started screening air cargo shipments on trucks, pallets and
containers with X-ray scanning equipment provided by L-3 Communications. "We
think it's extremely important to give [companies] a real-life laboratory to
advance their product. It's not a bad thing that something isn't ready for
prime-time, but they found [that] out a lot sooner than trying to do this in
a laboratory somewhere," Kinton said. 

Logan tested and later fully implemented document verification systems from
Imaging Automation of Bedford, N.H., to authenticate international travel
documents. The machine readers already have discovered some illegal aliens
who had forged or altered papers, Coy said. 

Kinton understands that managing security is a day-to-day effort with its
own inherent shortcomings. "I think there are many, many remaining
challenges," he said. "I don't begin to suggest we've satisfied the need for
security. The challenge is how do we move quickly and efficiently to meet
tomorrow's threat. I think that's something we need to do better
nationally."

Contacts: Thomas Kinton, Massport, 617/561-1600; Craig Coy, Massport,
617/568-1021; George Nacarra, TSA, 617/568-8901


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************