We commented on the Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment in a post not long ago. The Travel Security blog had some interesting things to add in their post on the subject earlier this week.
The most important thing the article they referenced had to say is this: “Our concern is that almost all of the security budgets go into technology. Security is built on three cornerstones: technology, procedure and protocol, and human resources and training…Technology is wonderful, but you need an overall system.” We need to understand the balance between these various aspects.
SAFEE is dependent on the assumption that ground security has failed, and the threat is on the aircraft in the air. The most important part of the system in our opinion is based on reliable communication links between ground and air…a problem during the September 11 Terrorist Attacks. The second would be threat-detection and assessment systems onboard…which, if nothing else, should result in less false positives causing airport diversions.
Ultimately, the SAFEE project is a European project, and while the technology will likely be licensed to the US eventually, it isn’t ready to present to those sponsoring it. We will see what happens.
Perhaps airplanes should have a detention cell. Wouldn’t that be interesting?
