U.S. aviation security pick favors Israeli model

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"President Barack Obama's nominee to oversee security at U.S. airports said on Tuesday he wants to shift screening closer to the Israeli model to include more behavior detection in a bid to thwart terrorism plots.

Retired Major General Robert Harding was nominated earlier this month to head the Transportation Security Administration after serving more than three decades in the military, including a stint as deputy to the Army's chief of intelligence and director for operations in the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Aviation security has received heightened attention in recent months after a Nigerian man tried to blow up a U.S. commercial airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit last Christmas with a bomb hidden in his underwear.

Harding said that while the Israeli security system was smaller, it offered a blueprint for trying to thwart terrorism plots in the aviation system, which has remained a target for militant groups like al Qaeda.

"We should move even closer to an Israeli model where there's more engagement with passengers," Harding told the Senate Commerce Committee that is considering his nomination. "I think that increases the layers and pushes the layers out."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032303303.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. Good choice.

Israel has the best security in the world.

[GoneOffShore]

3. Wrong - they have a tiny airline and few stops.

Extrapolate their system here and air traffic grinds to a screeching halt.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Perhaps they do, but they still have excellent security.

We have to do something, and could learn a lot from their model.

[GoneOffShore]

2. Oh goody! More security theatre!

Impossible to implement and just not worthwhile.

Reinforced cockpit doors and heightened passenger awareness thwart terror attacks.

TSA doesn't - VIPR doesn't - FAM's don't.

Everything else is Kabuki Security.