"SFO: A Testing Ground For Airport Security"

Monday, September 11, 2006

SFO A Testing Ground For Airport Security
By Vic Lee
KGO-TV Ch 7 (ABC), San Francisco (CA)


Air security in this country remains a priority, post-9/11, but only because
terrorists keep telling us airlines remain their priority. You might be
surprised to learn, San Francisco International is something of a model for
security.

Scott Sands and those on United Flight 351 from Atlanta arrived hours late.
The plane was diverted to Dallas after a flight attendant found an unclaimed
backpack and Blackberry on board. 

Sands did not object to the inconvenience. 

Scott Sands, passenger: "I had smoke come out of a cockpit out of LaGuardia
once and it was much worse than this." 

Before 9/11, Flight 351 probably would not have been diverted. 

Mike McCarron, SFO spokesman: "They probably would have gathered that stuff,
put it in the lost and found when they arrived here in San Francisco and no
one would have heard that flight had any problems at all." 

But 9/11 changed not only air safety, but airport security, particularly
here where industry experts consider SFO to be one of the safest airports in
the country. It has become the main testing ground for cutting security
systems. 

SFO was one of the first to get what's called a puffer. It resembles a phone
booth, but a puff of air can detect traces of explosives from skin and
clothing. 

Now, not only international, but all domestic luggage is checked by CTX
explosives scanners. The airport says ultra-sensitive hand readers are
mounted at doors leading to the airfield. 

These geometric hand readers have become so sophisticated that if you lose
or gain too much weight, it won't recognize your hand or even your knuckle
and it will deny you access to restricted areas. 

But the centerpiece of SFO's security system was built several years after
9/11. 

This state of the art operations center monitors 1,400 high quality digital
cameras at terminals and the airport perimeter, including the bay. A
security breach at a door or cars parked too long at the curb will set off
alarms. 

Mike McCarron: "We're not intrusive, but someone tries to break the system
we'll find them." 

But perhaps it's most ambitious security experiment will be in October when
the TSA will evaluate a program being tested by Lawrence Livermore Labs
which would scan for explosives, all cargo shipments passing through SFO.

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