When Profiling was OK

Self | 04/01/2010 | Self

[An.American.Expatriate]

Several years ago, in what seems to be a previous life, I worked for a subsidiary of TWA at Frankfurt Internation Airport in Germany. This was during the Balkan War timeframe and just a few short years after the Lockerbie Attack.

This subsidiary provided Security Screening services to TWA as well as to United Airlines. Some of you may recall a time when, in front of every checkin counter, some person was stationed and asked a bunch of "dumb" questions (i.e. Did you pack these bags yourself?) - that was my a part of my job.

The OTHER part of the job was to be on the lookout for various suspicious "signs". I can not recall all of them now, but here is a list of the few I do recall:

- one way ticket
- cash purchase
- purchased same day
- female passenger traveling alone
- visa stamps (or a passport) from any of several countries (i.e. Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, etc...)

Any of the above was sufficient for further checking of the baggage - to include totally removing all contents - pat down searches etc ...

Also, the bags were marked with special color coded decals (one color "normal", the other "special") which were changed every day.

"Special" bags were not loaded on the plane until the passenger was CONFIRMED to be on the plane. In some cases these bags were further screened "on the ramp" (Passenger had to unpack everything).

[An.American.Expatriate]

I am glad to see that we are returning to profiling passengers. Unfortunately, unless the airlines are forced to screen the passengers themselves, the security of flights to the US from Europe will be conducted based on the European model as it will be impossible for the "TSA" equivalent to know whether the passenger is travelling to the US, or to some other destination.

BTW - no one was allowed to travel without a passport - ever.

[9YearLurker]

Ha! TWF—traveling while female! Not sure that helps with the current threats.

[TornadoAlley3]

In remarks broadcast on KVIA-TV El Paso, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano further explained her department’s report on right-wing extremism.

“Sorry to say, but it’s the reality we deal with,” she said. “We have several factors that could lead to an uptick in extremist violent activity...”

April 09

[An.American.Expatriate]

Ha! TWF—traveling while female! Not sure that helps with the current threats.

Yeah, that one always cought people off guard!

Apparently a young (I believe) english woman was used by a muslim aquaitance to, thankfully unsucessfully, bring a bomb on a plane (without her knowledge) ...

[MarkT]

It should be TWR - Travelling While Raghead.