Profiling and Security Screening at US airports

Since 9/11, security has become a major issue in the United States. For the last ten
years security has become one of the top priorities of the US government. Airports,
sea ports, government departments and even private institutions have planned and
implemented security programs all over the country to ensure the protection of the
citizens of the US.

Airports are the main gates used by most of the travelers to enter a state from
abroad or to travel from one city to another within a country. In this era of war,
terrorism and retaliation, airports have to strictly monitor the individuals entering
or leaving the country through air travel. The attacks of 9/11 have increased
pressure on the aviation authorities of almost all the countries in the world
including the US to manage and monitor the flow of passengers using air travel.
Managements of airports all over the US have revamped and implemented tight
security programs to tackle the problem of potential terrorists entering the US.

A few days after the 9/11 attacks Congress passed the Aviation and Transport
security Act. Later, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was established.
In accordance with TSA, government employees were given the charge of airport
security all over the country. The TSA has implemented programs for screening
passengers and the baggage that they carry.

X-rays scanners, metal detectors, and bomb detectors were initially used for the
screening. Later on, during 2010, full body scanner, pat downs and strip searches
were also introduced by the TSA which led to much rage and criticism amongst the
passengers.[ http://www.cfr.org/publication/23673/debate_over_airport_security.html ]

Some questions were raised by experts over the effectiveness of such security
programs which led to the introduction of profiling. Profiling uses the available
information about passengers to judge whether they are low risk or high risk.
Information such as behavior, criminal record, ethnicity, religion and travelling
history is used to determine the level of risk of a passenger. High risk passengers
are questioned and made to go through full body scans or pat downs. Low risk
passengers usually face lesser problems during their journey from the entrance of
the airport to the waiting lounge.
Profiling and security screening at the airports of the US as well as other western
countries have become hot topics of debate all over the international media. This
article will discuss some pros and cons of profiling and security screening at US
airports but the main emphasis will be laid on the shortcomings of such programs.
It has been witnessed that the policies implemented by powerful governments are
presented to the general public in a way which either keeps them from questioning
it or convinces them to allow the authorities to discriminate a particular group of
people. Well, it’s not enough to write a sentence and then expect the reader to
understand and analyze the whole situation without providing strong arguments. So
let’s start with the most widely known issues related to profiling and security
programs.

The first question raised on this issue is that whether profiling is effective or not.
Well, we need strong arguments to agree or disagree. The advocates of the
profiling and security screening programs argue that such security procedures are
helpful in keeping the country safe. They insist that full body scans and pat downs
can make it difficult for the terrorists to conduct their activities in the country and
so it will be better to implement such programs. While making such arguments,
they tend to forget that the terrorist organizations are very capable of using other
tactics to conduct terror attacks. Terrorists usually have a strong network of
intelligence and so it’s not that easy to catch them. The terrorists are not foolish
enough to walk through the airport gates knowing that the security programs
implemented there are very much advanced and there are chances that they will be
caught. Many countries are profiling their citizens, including the US. The terrorists
have another option of employing people from countries where profiling is not
implemented yet, to conduct attacks. Profiling also includes noticing the general
behavior of the individual while being interrogated. Terrorists can easily pretend to
be someone else while such interrogations take place. Remember the “underwear
bomber” Umar Farouk ? who was caught in December 2009 carrying explosives
attached to his under garments. Well, a US government report showed that there
was confusion about whether x ray scanners were able to detect the bomb or not.
Also, these machines cannot detect anything hidden inside the body, consider the
example of drug traffickers making use of capsules to transport heroin.
Different people have different opinions about the effectiveness of such security
programs. Some argue that profiling is more effective than pat downs and full body
scans because checking the past records and asking some extra questions does not
provoke the passenger as much as invading his or her privacy does. There is
another issue which adds more spice to the debate. Many people argue that, the
manufacturers of those machines and technology have considerable influence on
the government, and it is well known that in the capitalist system of the US, the big
corporations have a major influence on the government, and so they force the
government to ease their path to making big profits. Well, billions of dollars were
spent on the purchases and installation of these security screening machines. Who
paid? The public obviuosly, who is angry at the new procedures? The public
again , who made billions? The manufacturers.

Now it’s up to the readers to analyze the situation and then make their opinion.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/23673/debate_over_airport_security.html

[http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Airport_security_profiling]

Next, I’ll be discussing the issue of privacy of individuals which is invaded by the
security personnel at the airports who “in the name of duty” deprive the individuals
of the most basic human rights of liberty and privacy.

During 2010, TSA introduced full body scanners at majority of the air ports of the
country. Full body scanners enable the security staff to look through the
passenger’s clothes and search for weapons or any other kind of dangerous
apparatus which may threaten the safety of others on board. Many passengers have
expressed anger over such programs due to obvious reasons. Invasion of an
individual’s privacy is by no means acceptable to that individual even if it is
legally implemented by the government. Passengers at many of the major airports
of the country have complained about how humiliating such security procedures
are. It is, more or less, like some form of erotic photography. Supporters of such
programs insist on the need for such security checks while ignoring the importance
people give to privacy, values and respect. The advocates of such security
programs claim that, implementing such programs will reduce the risk of terrorist
attacks in the country. Some answers to this argument have already been given.

[http://debatepedia.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Full-body_scanners_at_airports ]
Another important issue related to this problem is the problem of discrimination in
profiling. Majority of the Muslim and south Asian passengers expressed anger on
the issue of discrimination on the basis of religion. It is not a coincidence that only
Arab, Pakistani, Indian and African Muslims are singled out and interrogated. The
west may have lost all of it’s values and culture but the majority of the muslims
today value religious obligations and culture. Full body scans, especially, proved to
be the most provoking for the muslims at the US airports. Screening and pat downs
of muslim women has enraged the muslims all over the world. Why is it that only
the women wearing the hijab are asked to stand out for extra interrogation only
because she is wearing loose clothes and a head cover while the rest of the women
are only required to go through normal procedures? I believe it is not a
coincidence. It is the practice of deliberately discriminating the muslims. Its not
racial profiling, but racial discrimination indeed.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122556071

The debate over the topic of profiling and security screening often excludes the
opinion of the security staff working at the airports. Many security personnel have
expressed disgust about their jobs of conducting pat downs, screenings,
interrogations and even strip searches. They hate to touch other people while
performing body searches and usually give the passenger the opportunity to abuse
them. Passengers also give the staff a hard time.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1332307/Now-abused-TSA-staff-vent-anger-security-patdown-
searches.html#ixzz16D8GJMju