Security and Transportation: A Tough Balancing Act, Essay Example

Possible gaps in security against terrorism related to airfreight transport

About a decade ago, the commercial airline in the United States was used by the al-Qa`ida in their successful mission of destruction of the Pentagon and World Trade Center (Alcorn, 2012). This prompted the government to take extra measure in the protection of commercial aviation although the extremist groups have been interested in attacking this area. The success of al-Qa`ida in this regard is a clear indicator of the existing security gaps in the aviation business. Although the airport administration has implemented modern imaging technology, security gaps are evident for terrorism in the airfreight transport.

Majority of the shipments have been documented to be loaded in the aircraft without the necessary security screening. Apart from cargo, the employees in the airports are also associated with potential hazards of terrorism in the in the airports. In most cases, the airport employees are privileged to surpass security screening. Conducting physical screening of employees cannot fully address the issue because the motivations of an individual, capabilities as well as attitudes in relation to causing harm cannot fully be determined (Alan, 2008).

A broad spectrum of protection cannot be attributed to any single measure. Mitigation of such hazards therefore requires execution of multi-layered efforts of risk based approaches that are achievable trough execution of flexible as well as unpredictable measures in the aviation industry. Protection against any potential terrorist attack requires that issues of safety are given top priority. Careful checking of every delivery in the airport and employees screening are ust a few of potential measures that are considered. However, technical as well as organization limits are evident thus introduction of secure delivery chain needs to be taken extremely seriously.

References

Alan L. G., (2008). Security and Transportation: A Tough Balancing Act. National Defense Magazine

Alcorn, J. (2012). Airport security. The New York Times.