Selective Screening of Rail Passengers, MTI 06-07

The threat of another major terrorist attack in the United States remains high, with the greatest danger coming from local extremists inspired by events in the Middle East. Although the United States removed the Taliban government and destroyed al Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan, events in Europe and elsewhere have shown that the terrorist network leadership remains determined to carry out further attacks and is capable of doing so. Therefore, the United States must systematically conduct research on terrorist strikes against transportation targets to distill lessons learned and determine the best practices for deterrence, response, and recovery. Those best practices must be taught to transportation and security professionals to provide secure surface transportation for the nation. Studying recent incidents in Europe and Asia, along with other research, will help leaders in the United States learn valuable lessons—from preventing attacks, to response and recovery, to addressing the psychological impacts of attacks to business continuity. Timely distillations of the lessons learned and best practices developed in other countries, once distributed to law enforcement, first responders, and rail- and subway-operating transit agencies, could result in the saving of American lives. This monograph focuses on the terrorist risks confronting public transportation in the United States—especially urban mass transit—and explores how different forms of passenger screening, and in particular, selective screening, can best be implemented to reduce those risks

Love thy neighbour? Coronavirus politics and their impact on EU freedoms and rule of law in the Schengen Area. CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security in Europe No. 2020-04, April 2020

Restrictions on international and intra-EU traffic of persons have been at the heart of the political responses to the coronavirus pandemic. Border controls and suspensions of entry and exist have been presented as key policy priorities to prevent the spread of the virus in the EU. These measures pose however fundamental questions as to the raison d’être of the Union, and the foundations of the Single Market, the Schengen system and European citizenship. They are also profoundly intrusive regarding the fundamental rights of individuals and in many cases derogate domestic and EU rule of law checks and balances over executive decisions. This Paper examines the legality of cross-border mobility restrictions introduced in the name of COVID-19. It provides an in-depth typology and comprehensive assessment of measures including the reintroduction of internal border controls, restrictions of specific international traffic modes and intra-EU and international ‘travel bans’. Many of these have been adopted in combination with declarations of a ‘state of emergency’

Airline Passenger Profiling Systems After 9/11: Personal Privacy versus National Security

This paper reviews the Transportation Security Administration's forthcoming computerized profiling system called "Secure Flight." Secure Flight is the latest generation of so-called "computer assisted passenger pre-screening systems." Such systems invite considerable privacy and civil liberty concerns, evoking references to an Orwellian society. This article confronts the central legal, political, and social tension borne of profiling systems such as Secure Flight, namely the conflict between the ideal of a "right to be let alone" (Warren and Brandeis 1890) relative to the post-Sept. 11 ultimatum of former American Airlines Chairman and CEO Robert L. Crandall (2002): "You want to travel on the airline system? You give up your privacy. You don't want to give up your privacy? Don't fly. Your privacy isn't equal to the safety of the rest of us.

Critiquing Critiques of Profiling in Aviation Security Screening Programs: Why the ACLU Has It Wrong

This article provides commentary on the American Civil Liberty Union\u27s (ACLU) criticisms of the Computer Assisted Passenger Screening System (CAPS) that was developed under the auspices of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support aviation security

Assessing U.S. Travelers’ Trade-offs for Aviation Safety Objectives: A Natural Experiment

Understanding air travelers’ values for aviation safety is essential to design effective and well-accepted security measures. This study investigates changes in U.S. travelers trade-offs for passenger screening objectives using the occurrence of an international aviation incident (loss of Malaysian Airline Flight 370) as a natural experiment. We also examine how alternative screening procedures affect trade-offs between equity and safety concerns. Results show evidence for an enduring effect of the aviation incident on trade-offs between safety and other passenger screening objectives. Additionally, the use of different procedures to select high-risk passengers for enhanced screening altered the relative importance of the equity objective. Implications for the design of future airport security policies are discussed