While almost all travelers are always searching for cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages, everyone agrees that the safety of airline passengers should remain the top priority. President Obamas nominee to run TSA (Transportation Security Administration), Robert Harding, told Congress last week that he wants U.S. airport security to more closely resemble Israeli security where security personnel enter into conversations with travelers and ask questions to assess whether they might pose a danger.
Currently U.S. airport screeners are given a one week course in engaging passengers. In addition, approximately 2,000 specially trained behavior detection officers wander airports on the lookout for questionable behavior. Harding applauds such actions, but points out that we currently are not engaging passengers at the same level as is being done in Israel.
Harding believes that the 48,000 current U.S. screeners need additional training and drilling to bring them to a level similar to the Israeli model. He thinks that this can be accomplished very quickly.
Security experts view Israels aggressive questioning of passengers as a key reason that their airports are among the most secure in the world. The flip side to their actions is that some criticize Israel for profiling passengers, asking intrusive questions, and sometimes not allowing passengers to fly.
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