Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening

In the New York Times article "Administration to Seek Balance in Airport Screening" by Helene Cooper is about the recent drama about the airport screening and how it has become to intrusive. A republican from Florida, John Mica, says that the TSA should look at Israel, which uses early detection techniques at airports. Israel is using a smarter approach that allows them to predict which travelers may be a threat. But, it is said that at Ben-Gurion (an international airport in Israel)it is actually more intrusive than what the American officials are doing now, says security analysts. "At Ben-Gurion, some passengers have been searched so thoroughly that they have had to walk through the terminals, the gates and up to the doors of their planes with no handbags, wallets or even shoes." The United States is focusing on searching for weapons at airports whereas the the Israelis are focusing on finding terrorists. The Israeli model worked because Israeli agents “try to detect behavior or people’s patterns” by asking them questions. Israeli officials say that any passenger trying to board is subject to questions from security agents. But,shouldn't it be the other way around or shouldn't we too be focusing on terrorists as well. The TSA screening system which is currently in use searches for weapons instead of relying primarily on profiling people. Administration officials said that they would try to fix the system in response to public concerns, but they maintained that the new system would be around as long as there were people seeking to blow up planes. The White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said the government was “desperately” trying to balance privacy and security.

By Gina Hughes