Physical Security Threat

 Traveling today by means of airlines is a very efficient mode of transportation for businessmen, celebrities, or everyday people like you and I. But with Billions of people flying worldwide every year, this can be a very difficult business to handle. There are several threats in which people try to take advantage of the airlines or to inflict harm. These threats could include physical security, cyber security, and medical risks. Today I am mentioning the physical security risks that airports specifically face.  

 911 As we all know as a world changing event, killing 2977 people and leaving thousands of others suffering. This occurred due to capable terrorist and the lack of security in airports before 2002. Just over two months after this horrific attack the TSA was put in place by President George W. Bush. TSA, Transportation Security administration, has several measures to ensure a safe and secure environment for travelers utilizing airports. A few of which include barriers, luggage scanning, person scanning, drug dogs, random security checks, and pat downs.  

    
Airports are filled with people, with this comes the risks of spreading disease like wildfire. The first step is to identify people who may be affected. This can be done with health screenings, and temperature checks. Although some studies have shown that symptoms may appear later and medicine over the counter like Tylenol can lower temperatures, these measures are the best they can take for now in identifying health risks. To help with protecting the spread of disease, people are made aware of health risks and encouraged to wash their hands and keep hands off their face. During COVID, masks were mandatory to prevent the spread.  

    Another threat to airports is bomb or weapon threats. It is not often that bombs are brought onto airlines, but weapons are common. To identify weapons on a person, pat downs are used along with scanning machines. Those scanning machines are also used to identify weapons, bombs, drugs or even illegal plants or substances brought into different countries. If someone is found with a weapon, they could be denied from entering the airports, fined, or even arrested depending on the severity.  As with the drugs, drug dogs are used to identify and find hidden drugs. Personnel caught in possession of drugs will be arrested and fined but varies on the situation.  

These are just a couple of the current security problems. Researchers are working tirelessly to find ways to better ensure that flying with airlines is as safe as possible. If you find an issue, find a solution. It may help us all in the end. 

“Security Screening.” Security Screening | Transportation Security Administration, www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening. Accessed 1 Feb. 2024. 

Baker, Joe. “The Travel Bug: Preventing the Spread of Disease at Airports.” Airport Technology, 29 Nov. 2018, www.airport-technology.com/features/the-travel-bug-preventing-the-spread-of-disease-at-airports/?cf-view&cf-closed.