Lessons to be Learned from Israel's Airport Security

I have travelled back and forth to Israel’s Ben Gurion airport many times and have always been fascinated that their airport security is so efficient, quick and sophisticated. You rarely have to wait in long lineups, passengers move through various security processes quickly and ultimately, as a passenger, you feel really safe!

Last year, while my family and I were visiting Miami over Christmas, I remember watching CNN which was all ablaze with footage of the Flight 253 would-be bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (the flight from Amsterdam that was destined for the States). On one of the segments, an Israeli airport security specialist was being interviewed. He was completely aghast that such a thing could have happened. The interviewee’s words that still ring clear in my mind are, “This would NEVER have happened in Israel.”

I recently read a fascinating article called The “Israelification” of airports: High Security, Little Bother. Author Cathal Kelly frequently quotes Rafi Sela, president of AR Challenges, who stresses how North American airport security systems have loads to learn from how things are done in Israel. The suggestion is an adoption of “Israelification” – a system that protects life and limb without annoying you to death. Sela describes the various layers of Israeli airport security:

• Roadside checks greet passengers outside Ben Gurion airport – Officers ask two simple questions: How are you? Where are you coming from? Officers check for nervousness and signs of distress.
• Armed guards stand outside the terminals – They watch as passengers come through the door, looking for strange behavior.
• Trained interviewers check passports and tickets – They ask questions like “Who packed your luggage?” and can tell within 20–25 seconds if you are lying.
• At the check-in desk, luggage is scanned – Screening areas are surrounded by blast-proof glass with bomb-proof boxes.
• At the body and hand baggage check, passengers’ eyes are studied – No shoe checks, no liquid checks. Officers are trained to look into passengers’ eyes – “that’s how you figure out the bad guys from the good guys.”

Sela offers a great quote: “Do you know why Israelis are so calm? We have brutal terror attacks on our civilians and still, life in Israel is pretty good. The reason is that people trust their defence forces, their police, their response teams and the security agencies. They know they’re doing a good job. You can’t say the same thing about Americans and Canadians. They don’t trust anybody. But they say, ‘So far, so good.’ Then if something happens, all hell breaks loose and you’ve spent eight hours in an airport. Which is ridiculous. Not justifiable.”

So, the moral of all this? Airports around the world have a lot to learn from Israel’s advanced, proficient and reliable security system. Think about how much happier you’d be as a passenger if you didn’t have to suffer through hours of security checks? Imagine not having to be at the airport hours and hours prior to an international flight?