The Boston Globe comments on the lessons of security for El Al, the National Airline of Israel.
El Al security focuses on intercepting bad people, as opposed to bad things(bottles of water, shoes, etc). They monitor behavior, and profilers interview travellers at length. Only when the profiler is satsified with you are you allowed to check in for the flight.
There hasn’t been a security issue on an El Al plane in over thirty years. They are not afraid to target and focus on people, and people most likely to be terrorists merit more inspection than people less likely to be. We should treat everyone with due respect, and not antagonize anyone…but we must be aware that certain individuals fit the profile of terrorists more than others.
We have heard that the TSA is training its personnel to track behaviors and look for nervous or suspicious-looking individuals. We hope this will lead to more inspection on the ground and less instances of planes being diverted due to suspicions in the air.
