"Miami International Airport is training all of its employees, not just screeners, to look for suspicious behavior"

Friday, September 8, 2006

AIRPORT SECURITY
Miami International Airport is training all of its employees, not just
screeners, to look for suspicious behavior.
BY STEVE HARRISON
The Miami (FL) Herald


They work in Miami International Airport as accountants, computer
specialists and in maintenance. And now, one week before the five-year
anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, they are being trained to spot suspicious
behavior.

MIA says it's the first American airport to undertake such a large training.

''Law enforcement can't be everywhere,'' said Rafi Ron, a security
consultant who was once the chief security official at Ben Gurion
International Airport in Israel. ``Who knows better what's irregular than
the employees who work there?''

Miami-Dade police officers are training MIA's roughly 1,500 employees in
Ron's Behavior Pattern Recognition program before opening it up to airline
employees. The first class was Thursday morning.

The idea is that hundreds of additional eyes at MIA will help security. Ron,
who spoke to the class, said terrorists are often a step ahead of current
rules and screening technologies.

''[Shoe bomber] Richard Reid overcame technology, but he failed badly in
avoiding attention,'' said Ron, who is considered a leading expert in
aviation security.

The media were invited to attend the first hour of Thursday's class for a
general overview of the program before specifics were discussed. MIA police
officers said they have been taught to engage suspicious people to get them
talking.

''You don't want to ask them yes or no questions,'' said MIA police officer
Mike Kinnebrew. ``We can ask them questions about their plans. How did they
pay for their ticket? Where are they going? Why are they going there?''

Kinnebrew said Ron's behavior class opened his eyes to the ''potential
threat'' terrorists pose to airports.

''I might have been naive before,'' he said.

Ron stressed to his first class that profiling unusual behavior isn't racial
profiling. He noted all Islamic terrorists have not been men with Muslim
names, and said profiling would encourage terrorists to recruit people who
don't fit the mold.

Airport officials expect it will take at least months to put all employees
through a two- or four-hour class.

The Transportation Security Administration previously had taught the
behavior training program for screeners at 14 airports, including MIA.

Lauren Stover, the airport's new security and communications director, urged
that all employees undergo training -- a first in the nation.

Airlines have also expressed interest in having employees such as ticket
agents take the classes.

Boston's Logan International Airport has offered the training to some ticket
agents and other workers.

Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman in Boston, said the program has yielded about
95 arrests for fraudulent documents, money and drug smuggling, and other
offenses.

''It has been successful in catching bad guys, but not bad terrorist guys,''
said Richard Bloom, a dean who directs terrorism and security studies at
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

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