The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has spent billions of dollars on aviation security programs. However, recent attacks involving aircraft and airports in other countries underscore the continued threat to aviation and the need for an effective aviation security program. Chapter 1 examines the extent to which TSA has (1) information on the effectiveness of selected passenger aviation security countermeasures and (2) systematically analyzed the cost and effectiveness tradeoffs among countermeasures. Incidents of aviation workers using access privileges to smuggle weapons and drugs into security-restricted areas and onto planes has heightened awareness about security at commercial airports. TSA, along with airport operators, has responsibility for securing the nations approximately 440 commercial airports. Chapter 2 reports on (1) the extent to which TSA has assessed the components of risk and (2) the extent to which TSA has taken actions to oversee and facilitate security, among other objectives. U.S. policies and strategies for protecting air cargo have focused on two main perceived threats: the in-flight detonation of explosives concealed in an air cargo shipment and the hijacking of a large all-cargo aircraft for use as a weapon to attack a ground target such as a major population center, critical infrastructure, or a critical national security asset. Additionally, there is concern that chemical, biological, or radiological agents or devices that could be used in a mass-casualty attack in the United States might be smuggled as international air cargo as discussed in chapter 3. On 31 August 2016, as part of a shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, air carriers resumed scheduled commercial flights between the United States and Cuba, a route previously only open to public and private charter carrier operations. Chapter 4 examines (1) the extent to which TSA followed its standard operating procedures when assessing aviation security at Cuban airports in fiscal years 2012 through 2017; (2) the results of TSAs Cuban airport assessments in fiscal years 2012 through 2017; and (3) the results of TSAs air carrier inspections for Cuba in fiscal years 2016 -- when commercial scheduled air service between the United States and Cuba resumed -- and 2017.

This book addresses new technologies being considered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for screening airport passengers for concealed weapons and explosives. The FAA is supporting the development of promising new technologies that can reveal the presence not only of metal-based weapons as with current screening technologies, but also detect plastic explosives and other non-metallic threat materials and objects, and is concerned that these new technologies may not be appropriate for use in airports for other than technical reasons. This book presents discussion of the health, legal, and public acceptance issues that are likely to be raised regarding implementation of improvements in the current electromagnetic screening technologies, implementation of screening systems that detect traces of explosive materials on passengers, and implementation of systems that generate images of passengers beneath their clothes for analysis by human screeners.

International Air Carrier Liability brings together essential treaties and airline-to-airline agreements on air carrier liability, safety and security, and supplements these with expert commentary and analysis. The examination considers the general regulatory framework of international civil aviation (including the Chicago Convention and related documents) and how the liability regime fits within that framework. The book is divided into three parts: dealing in turn with liability, safety and security, and civil aviation regulation. Part I, for example, provides comment and analysis of the international air-carrier liability regime, how the main liability conventions operate, and the application of these conventions to international carriage by air (passengers, baggage and cargo). Given its subject matter and the universal state party participation in these conventions, this book has truly global application. David Hodgkinson and Rebecca Johnston aim to provide a reference aid for legal practitioners (at law firms, airlines, manufacturers, aviation-related corporations and government departments and agencies), as well as academics, students (undergraduate and post graduate) and government officials regarding treaties, domestic laws and documents concerned with these vital legal issues.

This report assesses the operational performance of explosives-detection equipment and hardened unit-loading devices (HULDs) in airports and compares their operational performance to their laboratory performance, with a focus on improving aviation security.

The Definitive Handbook on Terrorist Threats to Commercial Airline and Airport SecurityConsidered the definitive handbook on the terrorist threat to commercial airline and airport security, USAF Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen Sweet‘s seminal resource is now updated to include an analysis of modern day risks. She covers the history of aviation security

Making aviation security more cost-effective is hampered by considerable uncertainty about the terrorist threat, security system performance, and the costs of security measures. This volume focuses on exploring ways to inform decisionmaking despite such uncertainties, providing a set of analyses that help fill some of the current gaps in the assessment of the costs, benefits, and efficiency of aviation security measures and strategies.