NCJ Number
129034
Journal
Security Management Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1991) Pages: 59-61
Date Published
1991
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 107.14, designed to provide a comprehensive plan for airport and aircraft security is costly and ineffective.
Abstract
One of the weaknesses of the regulation is that the professional security community has not participated in the creation of a total security system design which certainly would have produced elements of the current program, but placed them in an overall security framework. The professional security community is also a minor player in implementing the systems. The program relies too much on sophisticated technology and neglects basic physical security and procedural provisions. Airport managers have been overwhelmed by the requirements of a technology in which they have no expertise, and the lucrative new market has attracted large companies that are also amateurs in the security business. Fundamental weaknesses in the security system abound and are not being addressed by the current program. The perimeters of nearly all airports are penetrable even by amateurs. Since employee turnover including persons with access to the aeronautical operations can be up to 5 percent per month, planting a professional saboteur is not difficult. "Piggybacking" and coercion at controlled access points are not being addressed effectively, and emergency egress from terminal buildings is commonly onto the aeronautical operations area.