Ned
11-08-2006, 05:54 PM
TSA strikes again. Not only does it do a lousy job, but it's stiffling any and all improvements. This article is a must read.
Originally posted by Travel Weekly by Dan Luzadder - November 8 2006
Airports, tech firms in holding pattern on new security systems
In the airports of the future, travelers might not have to stand in long screening lanes because they will have been sniffed, identified and X-rayed even before they approach a ticket counter. Inconspicuous devices, technologists predict, will wrap travelers in a web of high-tech probes and detectors without impeding the traveler's trip. The concept holds great appeal for airport planners, but it is probably a long way off.
The goal for the not-too-distant future is more modest but far more concrete: Getting passengers from the terminal doors to their airplane seat, ready for an on-time departure, in less than 30 minutes.
"Ease of travel and speed of travel are primary goals," said Dennis Roberts, director of airport planning and programming for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Yet even the more modest short-term goals require developing and implementing new technologies, a process that is caught in a tug-of-war between the private sector and government over which new devices will fit into a still-vague federal master plan for airport security, and who should pay the sizeable research and development costs that will be required.
For example, many of the most promising technologies for streamlining the boarding process at airports are on hold until the federal government reveals what the future holds for security and anti-terrorism measures. Unfortunately for developers, the government's crystal ball is often clouded by bureaucracy and secrecy.
And a lack of clarity over what paths will be taken by the Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security and Congress to ensure passenger security has a heavy influence the kinds of commitments that airports and private enterprise are willing to make to advance security technologies.
Security issues influence most aspects of airport operations, from where travelers park to the concessions they use and how they enter, exit and move about airport terminal facilities.
Clearly, technology has allowed for improvements that are already visible to every traveler. Kiosks that electronically identify passengers, along with automated boarding passes and baggage check-in, reduce delays in the ticketing process.
Such processes, unheard of just a few years ago, have already had a significant impact on the way travelers move through ticket lines by applying software solutions to logistics issues.
Potential for quick action
At first glance, some planned improvements to the airport experience have more to do with ease of movement than with security, per se.
For example, sometime in the not-too-distant future, planners predict that passengers will be directed to the nearest available gate rather than to an airline's own concourse facilities. Gates will serve multiple airlines with electronic signage that changes as flights are scheduled to arrive or depart, much like just-in-time inventory management in other industries.
New techniques like the one United Airlines is using at Denver Airport to enable passengers to board and exit from both ends of the aircraft simultaneously will likely become common to allow for faster deplaning and enplaning. In fact, multiple-access jetways will be required for the new Airbus A380 super jumbo aircraft.
To get planes in and out more quickly, aircraft will land with shortened separation times made possible by sophisticated new systems that can defeat weather and visibility problems by creating unique angles at which aircraft can approach runways.
New options are on the drawing board for controlling taxiways to make docking at terminal gates more efficient.
Some technologists even predict that commercial passenger aircraft will someday be flown more safely and efficiently by replacing onboard pilots with ground-based controllers sitting at consoles that offer real-time data and controls much like video games.
It may be a long time before travelers accept pilotless planes, but controlling aircraft when landing, when moving on the ground and while navigating densely congested areas is technologically possible already.
Government, the tortoise
Yet development of some of these ideas is in something of a holding pattern. For now, at least, attention is focused on which intermediate technologies airports should deploy until government decides what kinds of new long-term aircraft and terminal security will be mandated.
While some new systems and ideas are being explored by companies like General Electric and Lockheed Martin, much of the security technology being considered at present isn't all that new.
The reason, experts say, is that the government bureaucracy has discouraged research and development of new solutions, which in turn has resulted in widespread political disagreement over whether the government or private sector should drive the development of security technology.
The TSA, in policies developed with Homeland Security, has taken sole responsibility for baggage screening, identity screening and protecting aircraft from terrorist attacks. Some policy experts and others say that scenario creates an anti-technology environment that has slowed development of new solutions.
"There is no innovation going on," insisted James Carafano, a senior research fellow specializing in national and homeland security at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation's Allison Institute for International Studies.
"Companies out there, in my view, are taking existing technologies designed for something else and trying to market it to the TSA. That doesn't count for creative, or innovative, solutions."
Carafano is one of many critics who have expressed concern that airport security has become too focused on baggage and passenger screening -- i.e., keeping weapons and bombs off aircraft -- to the detriment of both terminal security and the fundamental task of stopping terrorism itself.
Carafano said that treating every aircraft passenger as a potential threat is far less efficient and less effective than good intelligence work and infiltration of terrorist organizations.
And he pointed to the vulnerability of airports themselves as potential targets, in places that TSA does not control...
...The TSA's recent stumbles with the handling of liquids in carry-ons and questions about whether certain bomb-detection equipment actually works have undermined public confidence in airport security. Even more disturbing was a recent report in the Newark Star-Ledger that TSA screeners at Newark Liberty Airport, the New York area's busiest airport, failed 20 of 22 tests in October in which federal agents attempted to smuggle guns and explosive materials through security checkpoints in carry-on luggage.
Mired in uncertainty
Meanwhile, private businesses, airport authorities and others are looking to the government to provide some stability in planning airport security 10 years out or more. Currently, they are mired in uncertainty, not knowing how federal mandates will shape the ways airports can be expanded, operated or managed in the future...
...TSA officials did not respond to requests for interviews about these issues. In the past, the agency has staunchly defended its record on air security and passenger screening. The Bush administration simply points to the fact that there have been no airborne terrorist attacks since 9/11...
..."TSA is the bound Prometheus," Carafano said. "It came with all kinds of congressional mandates. It has little flexibility in terms of options. Congress has mandated so many things, and many of those are process mandates, not performance mandates."
Some airports move ahead
While technology currently under consideration might not be deemed futuristic, it is becoming more sophisticated and is focused on speeding up passenger movement.
At San Francisco Airport, General Electric has a working laboratory model of a machine that tests volunteers from the ground up, with shoe X-rays, sniffers, puffers and biometric identification capabilities.
Steve Hill, a spokesman for GE, said the machine uses existing technology to screen passengers and is also tied to a registered-traveler model that will likely use prescreening as part of its profile.
"We have been at work for a while on the GE checkpoint vision," he said...
...Refinements are under way that would, as they are perfected, ideally allow an individual to pass thru the checkpoint within 30 seconds without removing shoes or opening a laptop.
But Hill acknowledged that even while GE collects more data on the system and stands ready to develop the model for commercial distribution, it still needs assurance from TSA that it is betting on the right technology. That question is far from answered.
"How long before these systems might be deployed is not possible to answer," he said. "We are still gathering data so we can get to the stage of asking TSA for permission to go ahead. Hopefully, that would be months instead of years, but we can't say."
The situation reflects a widespread reluctance on the part of corporations and technology developers to invest time and money in temporary technologies designed to address security needs until more certainty emerges...
..."If you look at the big picture, you have to admit that there is a giant market need for faster, better security equipment at airports," Brill said. "The financial structure of government doesn't encourage nimble fiscal investment in that. The private sector drives a harder bargain than government and can make decisions a lot faster. The financial structure of the government is geared not to make capital investments."
What's more, he said, "Unlike the government, no one that has a technology innovation has to hire a lobbyist to talk to me."
As airports attempt to plan for expansion and efficiency, and to cover their costs in doing so, the bottleneck that passengers see at security checkpoints is not much different than what airports see in Washington bureaucracies.
Until those issues of a futuristic security system that can function efficiently, without violating privacy and without making tragic errors, are on a clearer heading, other developments in the future of airports are also likely to wait in queue.Go to Airports, tech firms in holding pattern on new security systems (http://www.travelweekly.com/articles.aspx?articleid=53757) to read the entire article.
[Travel Weekly requires free registration to read their entire articles.]
Originally posted by Travel Weekly by Dan Luzadder - November 8 2006
Airports, tech firms in holding pattern on new security systems
In the airports of the future, travelers might not have to stand in long screening lanes because they will have been sniffed, identified and X-rayed even before they approach a ticket counter. Inconspicuous devices, technologists predict, will wrap travelers in a web of high-tech probes and detectors without impeding the traveler's trip. The concept holds great appeal for airport planners, but it is probably a long way off.
The goal for the not-too-distant future is more modest but far more concrete: Getting passengers from the terminal doors to their airplane seat, ready for an on-time departure, in less than 30 minutes.
"Ease of travel and speed of travel are primary goals," said Dennis Roberts, director of airport planning and programming for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Yet even the more modest short-term goals require developing and implementing new technologies, a process that is caught in a tug-of-war between the private sector and government over which new devices will fit into a still-vague federal master plan for airport security, and who should pay the sizeable research and development costs that will be required.
For example, many of the most promising technologies for streamlining the boarding process at airports are on hold until the federal government reveals what the future holds for security and anti-terrorism measures. Unfortunately for developers, the government's crystal ball is often clouded by bureaucracy and secrecy.
And a lack of clarity over what paths will be taken by the Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security and Congress to ensure passenger security has a heavy influence the kinds of commitments that airports and private enterprise are willing to make to advance security technologies.
Security issues influence most aspects of airport operations, from where travelers park to the concessions they use and how they enter, exit and move about airport terminal facilities.
Clearly, technology has allowed for improvements that are already visible to every traveler. Kiosks that electronically identify passengers, along with automated boarding passes and baggage check-in, reduce delays in the ticketing process.
Such processes, unheard of just a few years ago, have already had a significant impact on the way travelers move through ticket lines by applying software solutions to logistics issues.
Potential for quick action
At first glance, some planned improvements to the airport experience have more to do with ease of movement than with security, per se.
For example, sometime in the not-too-distant future, planners predict that passengers will be directed to the nearest available gate rather than to an airline's own concourse facilities. Gates will serve multiple airlines with electronic signage that changes as flights are scheduled to arrive or depart, much like just-in-time inventory management in other industries.
New techniques like the one United Airlines is using at Denver Airport to enable passengers to board and exit from both ends of the aircraft simultaneously will likely become common to allow for faster deplaning and enplaning. In fact, multiple-access jetways will be required for the new Airbus A380 super jumbo aircraft.
To get planes in and out more quickly, aircraft will land with shortened separation times made possible by sophisticated new systems that can defeat weather and visibility problems by creating unique angles at which aircraft can approach runways.
New options are on the drawing board for controlling taxiways to make docking at terminal gates more efficient.
Some technologists even predict that commercial passenger aircraft will someday be flown more safely and efficiently by replacing onboard pilots with ground-based controllers sitting at consoles that offer real-time data and controls much like video games.
It may be a long time before travelers accept pilotless planes, but controlling aircraft when landing, when moving on the ground and while navigating densely congested areas is technologically possible already.
Government, the tortoise
Yet development of some of these ideas is in something of a holding pattern. For now, at least, attention is focused on which intermediate technologies airports should deploy until government decides what kinds of new long-term aircraft and terminal security will be mandated.
While some new systems and ideas are being explored by companies like General Electric and Lockheed Martin, much of the security technology being considered at present isn't all that new.
The reason, experts say, is that the government bureaucracy has discouraged research and development of new solutions, which in turn has resulted in widespread political disagreement over whether the government or private sector should drive the development of security technology.
The TSA, in policies developed with Homeland Security, has taken sole responsibility for baggage screening, identity screening and protecting aircraft from terrorist attacks. Some policy experts and others say that scenario creates an anti-technology environment that has slowed development of new solutions.
"There is no innovation going on," insisted James Carafano, a senior research fellow specializing in national and homeland security at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation's Allison Institute for International Studies.
"Companies out there, in my view, are taking existing technologies designed for something else and trying to market it to the TSA. That doesn't count for creative, or innovative, solutions."
Carafano is one of many critics who have expressed concern that airport security has become too focused on baggage and passenger screening -- i.e., keeping weapons and bombs off aircraft -- to the detriment of both terminal security and the fundamental task of stopping terrorism itself.
Carafano said that treating every aircraft passenger as a potential threat is far less efficient and less effective than good intelligence work and infiltration of terrorist organizations.
And he pointed to the vulnerability of airports themselves as potential targets, in places that TSA does not control...
...The TSA's recent stumbles with the handling of liquids in carry-ons and questions about whether certain bomb-detection equipment actually works have undermined public confidence in airport security. Even more disturbing was a recent report in the Newark Star-Ledger that TSA screeners at Newark Liberty Airport, the New York area's busiest airport, failed 20 of 22 tests in October in which federal agents attempted to smuggle guns and explosive materials through security checkpoints in carry-on luggage.
Mired in uncertainty
Meanwhile, private businesses, airport authorities and others are looking to the government to provide some stability in planning airport security 10 years out or more. Currently, they are mired in uncertainty, not knowing how federal mandates will shape the ways airports can be expanded, operated or managed in the future...
...TSA officials did not respond to requests for interviews about these issues. In the past, the agency has staunchly defended its record on air security and passenger screening. The Bush administration simply points to the fact that there have been no airborne terrorist attacks since 9/11...
..."TSA is the bound Prometheus," Carafano said. "It came with all kinds of congressional mandates. It has little flexibility in terms of options. Congress has mandated so many things, and many of those are process mandates, not performance mandates."
Some airports move ahead
While technology currently under consideration might not be deemed futuristic, it is becoming more sophisticated and is focused on speeding up passenger movement.
At San Francisco Airport, General Electric has a working laboratory model of a machine that tests volunteers from the ground up, with shoe X-rays, sniffers, puffers and biometric identification capabilities.
Steve Hill, a spokesman for GE, said the machine uses existing technology to screen passengers and is also tied to a registered-traveler model that will likely use prescreening as part of its profile.
"We have been at work for a while on the GE checkpoint vision," he said...
...Refinements are under way that would, as they are perfected, ideally allow an individual to pass thru the checkpoint within 30 seconds without removing shoes or opening a laptop.
But Hill acknowledged that even while GE collects more data on the system and stands ready to develop the model for commercial distribution, it still needs assurance from TSA that it is betting on the right technology. That question is far from answered.
"How long before these systems might be deployed is not possible to answer," he said. "We are still gathering data so we can get to the stage of asking TSA for permission to go ahead. Hopefully, that would be months instead of years, but we can't say."
The situation reflects a widespread reluctance on the part of corporations and technology developers to invest time and money in temporary technologies designed to address security needs until more certainty emerges...
..."If you look at the big picture, you have to admit that there is a giant market need for faster, better security equipment at airports," Brill said. "The financial structure of government doesn't encourage nimble fiscal investment in that. The private sector drives a harder bargain than government and can make decisions a lot faster. The financial structure of the government is geared not to make capital investments."
What's more, he said, "Unlike the government, no one that has a technology innovation has to hire a lobbyist to talk to me."
As airports attempt to plan for expansion and efficiency, and to cover their costs in doing so, the bottleneck that passengers see at security checkpoints is not much different than what airports see in Washington bureaucracies.
Until those issues of a futuristic security system that can function efficiently, without violating privacy and without making tragic errors, are on a clearer heading, other developments in the future of airports are also likely to wait in queue.Go to Airports, tech firms in holding pattern on new security systems (http://www.travelweekly.com/articles.aspx?articleid=53757) to read the entire article.
[Travel Weekly requires free registration to read their entire articles.]