Defending the edge
It's not hard to imagine--a terrorist brings down a U.S. airliner with a shoulder-fired missile. And it's not far-fetched: There may be 500,000 of these devices floating around the world. So officials are scrambling to secure the perimeters of the nation's 450 commercial airports--often-unsupervised areas that provide ideal perches from which to launch an attack.
Attacks have already occurred elsewhere. Terrorists tried to shoot down an Israeli airplane taking off in Kenya in November 2002. One year later, a DHL cargo plane lifting off from Baghdad International Airport was hit by a SAM-7 ground-to-air missile.
Different strokes. No two airports are handling perimeter security the same way. For more than a year now at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, locals riding their own horses have helped patrol the airport's 26-mile perimeter. "This is a good way to put extra pairs of eyes out there," says airport spokesman Roger Smith.
At Boston's Logan International Airport, new surveillance cameras are linked to smart software. The computers compare the camera's images to a library of known object patterns. Each object shows up as an icon (a stick figure for a person) and is projected over a map of the airport. Anything in off-limits areas sets off an alarm. "This gives us the 24-hour protection we want . . . without having to watch the cameras all the time," says Dennis Treece, director of security for Massport, which operates Logan. Logan officials also have accepted offers of help from clammers who ply the waters along the airport's edges.
At Los Angeles International Airport, new perimeter fences are being built on concrete Jersey barriers that cannot easily be tunneled under. The fencing itself is made of heavy-gauge links set in a tight pattern that makes it hard to get a foothold and climb.
Even small facilities like Helena Regional Airport in western Montana are taking action. Officials there are testing high-tech motion sensors that scan the property's periphery. "We have to rely on technology or lock up our airport," says director Ron Mercer. "And we don't want to do that." -Samantha Levine
This story appears in the March 14, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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