Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security
First Report
Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security
National Materials Advisory Board
Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems
National Research Council
Publication NMAB-482-5
National Academy Press
Washington, D.C.
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Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security
THOMAS S. HARTWICK (chair), consultant, Seattle, Washington
ROBERT BERKEBILE, consultant, Leesburg, Florida
HOMER BOYNTON, consultant, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
BARRY D. CRANE, Institute for Defense Analyses, Alexandria, Virginia
COLIN DRURY, State University of New York at Buffalo
LEN LIMMER, consultant, Fort Worth, Texas
HARRY E. MARTZ, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California
JOSEPH A. NAVARRO, JAN Associates, Bethesda, Maryland
ERIC R. SCHWARTZ, The Boeing Company, Seattle, Washington
ELIZABETH H. SLATE, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
MICHAEL STORY, Thermo Instruments Systems, Santa Clara, California
Technical Consultants
RODGER DICKEY, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport Authority, Dallas, Texas
MOHSEN SANAI, SRI International, Menlo Park, California
National Materials Advisory Board Liaison
JAMES WAGNER, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
National Materials Advisory Board Staff
SANDRA HYLAND, senior program manager (until June 1998)
CHARLES T. HACH, staff officer
JANICE M. PRISCO, project assistant
RICHARD CHAIT, NMAB director
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National Materials Advisory Board
EDGAR A. STARKE, JR. (chair), University of Virginia, Charlottesville
JESSE BEAUCHAMP, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
FRANCIS DISALVO, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
EARL DOWELL, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
EDWARD C. DOWLING, Cyprus Amax Minerals Company, Englewood, Colorado
THOMAS EAGER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
ALASTAIR M. GLASS, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey
MARTIN E. GLICKSMAN, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
JOHN A.S. GREEN, The Aluminum Association, Washington, D.C.
SIEGFRIED S. HECKER, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico
JOHN H. HOPPS, JR., Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia
MICHAEL JAFFE, Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Summit, New Jersey
SYLVIA M. JOHNSON, SRI International, Menlo Park, California
SHEILA F. KIA, Ceneral Motors Research and Development Center, Warren, Michigan
LISA KLEIN, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
HARRY LIPSITT, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
ALAN MILLER, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, Seattle, Washington
ROBERT PFAHL, Motorola, Schaumberg, Illinois
JULIA PHILLIPS, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico
KENNETH L. REIFSNIDER, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
JAMES WAGNER, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
JULIA WEERTMAN, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
BILL G.W. YEE, Pratt and Whitney, West Palm Beach, Florida
RICHARD CHAIT, director
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Preface
This is the first of four reports assessing the deployment of technologies (i.e., equipment and procedures) by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This assessment of the 1997–1998 deployment of technologies by the FAA to improve aviation security was conducted by the Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security under the auspices of the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Commercial Aviation Security. This is the first part of a four-part assessment that will be completed in fiscal year 2001. The subsequent parts of this study will be continued by a new committee that will be convened by the NRC in 1999. The form of this report reflects the panel's understanding of this study as part of a larger project and carefully distinguishes the issues and topical areas that could be completed in the first year from those that would require further study.
Based on the experience of the Committee on Commercial Aircraft Security and in anticipation of further queries from the FAA or other government entities deliberating on the continuation and deployment of equipment purchases in the coming fiscal year, the panel has endeavored to make a rapid assessment and generate a timely report in 1999. Therefore, the panel considered the major issues and overall effectiveness of the deployed technologies, postponing detailed descriptions and detailed discussions of less urgent topics until later. The panel was greatly assisted by the cooperation of the FAA, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and several airport and airline officials.
Approach and Scope of This Study
This study was conducted in response to a congressional directive (Section 303 PL 104-264, 1996) that the FAA engage the NRC to study the deployment of airport security equipment. The FAA requested that the NRCthe operating arm of the National Academy of Sciencesassess the operational performance of explosives-detection equipment and hardened unit-loading devices (HULDs) in airports and compare it to performance in laboratory testing to determine how to deploy this equipment more effectively to improve aviation security. As requested by Congress, the study was intended to address the following issues:
1. Assess the weapons and explosives-detection technologies available at the time of the study that are capable of being effectively deployed in commercial aviation.
2. Determine how the technologies referred to in paragraph (1) could be used more effectively to promote and improve security at airport and aviation facilities and other secured areas.
3. Assess the cost and advisability of requiring hardened cargo containers to enhance aviation security and reduce the required sensitivity of bomb-detection equipment.
4. On the basis of the assessments and determinations made under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), identify the most promising technologies for improving the efficiency and cost effectiveness of weapons and explosives detection.
The NRC responded by convening the Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security, under the auspices of the Committee on Commercial Aviation Security of the National Materials Advisory Board. Interpretation of the four points presented by Congress and subsequent discussions between the FAA and the NRC led to the panel being asked to complete the following tasks:
1. Review the performance in laboratory tests of the explosives-detection technologies selected for deployment by the FAA's Security Equipment Integrated Product Team (SEIPT).
2. Assess the performance of the explosives-detection equipment deployed in airports in terms of detection capabilities, false-alarm rates, alarm resolution, operator effectiveness, and other operational aspects.
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3. Recommend further research and development that might lead to reduced false-alarm rates and improved methods of alarm resolution.
4. Recommend methods of improving the operational effectiveness of explosives-detection equipment already deployed or about to be deployed in airports.
5. Assess different combinations of explosives-detection equipment and recommend ways to improve their effectiveness.
6. Review and comment on the FAA's plans for gathering metrics on field performance based on certification requirements of the explosives-detection equipment.
7. Assess the effectiveness of combining passenger profiling and passenger-bag matching with explosives-detection techniques.
8. Review the technical approach used to develop hardened aviation-cargo containers.
9. Review the results of tests of hardened cargo containers that have been used operationally by the air carriers.
10. Assess the overall operational experiences of air carriers in deploying hardened cargo containers.
11. Recommend scenarios for implementing hardened cargo containers to complement other aviation security measures, such as the deployment of explosives-detection equipment and passenger profiling.
12. Recommend further research and development that might lead to more effective hardened cargo containers.
Since this is the first of four reports assessing the FAA's deployment of technologies to improve aviation security, not every task item is fully addressed in this report. Furthermore, it is difficult to state definitively to what degree each individual task has been covered in this report because information obtained during the continuation of this study may lead to the task being revisited and/or revised in a later report. In this report, the panel has addressed, at least in part, tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, and 12.
Methodology
The Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security developed this report based on: (1) panel meetings and technical literature provided by the FAA and the NRC staff; (2) presentations by outside experts on explosives-detection technologies, HULDs, passenger profiling, bag matching, airport-flow models, and the status of the deployment of equipment and implementation of security procedures; and (3) site visits by select panel members to John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and the FAA HULD test facility in Tucson, Arizona. Several factors were used in selecting these airports for site visits. All three are large "Category X" airports with international flights. Because Category X airports were the first to receive explosives-detection equipment, the panel was assured that the equipment would be operating and available for viewing. Because of the size of these airports, the panel was able to see deployed equipment in different installation configurations at one airport. During these visits, the panel studied the configurations of the deployed equipment and interviewed equipment operators and other security and baggage-handling employees.
Some panel members were invited to visit the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and InVision Technologies in San Francisco, California, and to attend the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) meeting on air cargo and ground equipment in New Orleans, Louisiana. Finally, some members of the panel participated in a conference call with representatives of domestic air carriers. All panel members were selected for their expertise in technologies for explosives detection, operational testing, human factors and testing, structural materials and design, and air carrier and airport operations and design.
Panel Meetings
The panel met four times between January and August 1998 to gather information for this report. In the course of these meetings, the panel received briefings and reviewed technical literature on various aspects of security technologies and their deployment. Information was provided by experts from the FAA, as well as by outside experts.
Site Visits
A group of panel members visited San Francisco International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport to observe the operation of security equipment, including the FAA-certified InVision CTX-5000, several trace explosives-detection devices, and noncertified bulk explosives-detection equipment. Panel members were also able to meet with personnel from the airlines, airports, and private security contractors to discuss baggage handling, the use of containers, and security procedures. Local FAA personnel were also available to answer questions. Following the site visit to San Francisco International Airport, the panel members visited InVision Technologies in Newark, California, where they were informed of InVision's technical objectives and planned improvements to their explosives-detection systems.
In addition to the airport site visits, one panel member attended the FAA test of the Galaxy HULD, which passed the FAA blast criterion. This test took place at the FAA test facility in Tucson, Arizona. This visit provided a firsthand account of the FAA's test procedures and test results and provided an opportunity for a panel member to interact with members of the HULD design team. This site visit was followed by attendance at an SAE meeting on air cargo and ground equipment, at which current and former airline representatives, designers, and engineers described their
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perspectives on the potential deployment of HULDs. Finally, one panel member visited the FAA Technical Center to discuss human-factors issues pertaining to the deployment and operation of bulk and trace explosives-detection equipment. During this visit, the panel member was informed of progress on the development of the threat image projection system for testing operators of security equipment.
Philosophy
The deployment of security equipment is not just a technical issue or an airport operations issue or a funding issue. Effective deployment is a complex systems-architecture issue that involves separate but intertwined technical, management, funding, threat, and deployment issues. The panel was unanimous in its characterization of deployment as a total systems architecture and in its agreement to conduct this study from that perspective. This systems approach is the foundation of this report.
THOMAS S. HARTWICK, CHAIR
PANEL ON ASSESSMENT OF TECHNOLOGIES
DEPLOYED TO IMPROVE AVIATION SECURITY
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Acknowledgments
The Panel on Assessment of Technologies Deployed to Improve Aviation Security would like to acknowledge the individuals who contributed to this study, including the following speakers: Michael Abkin, ATAC; Jean Barrette, Transport Canada; Leo Boivan, Federal Aviation Administration; Jay Dombrowski, Northwest Airlines; Tony Fainberg, Federal Aviation Administration; Cathal Flynn, Federal Aviation Administration; Frank Fox, Federal Aviation Administration; Dwight Fuqua, TRW; Ken Hacker, Federal Aviation Administration; Trish Hammar, DSCI; Mike McCormick, Federal Aviation Administration; James Padgett, Federal Aviation Administration; Ron Pollilo, Federal Aviation Administration; Fred Roder, Federal Aviation Administration; Roshni Sherbondi, Federal Aviation Administration; and Alexis Stefani, U.S. Department of Transportation.
The panel is also grateful for the contributions of the contracting office technical representatives, Paul Jankowski and Alan K. Novakoff. In addition, the panel is appreciative of the insights provided by Nelson Carey, Federal Aviation Administration; John Daly, U.S. Department of Transportation; Howard Fleisher, Federal Aviation Administration; Lyle Malotky, Federal Aviation Administration; Ronald Polillo, Federal Aviation Administration; and Ed Rao, Federal Aviation Administration.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC's Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Jon Amy, Purdue University; Albert A. Dorman, AECOM; Michael Ellenbogen, Vivid Technologies; Arthur Fries, Institute for Defense Analyses; Valerie Gawron, Calspan; James K. Gran, SRI International; Robert E. Green, Johns Hopkins University; John L. McLucas, Consultant; Hyla Napadensky, Napadensky Energetics (retired); Robert E. Schafrik, GE Aircraft Engines; and Edward M. Weinstein, Galaxy Scientific Corporation. While the individuals listed above have provided constructive comments and suggestions, it must be emphasized that responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
For organizing panel meetings and directing this report to completion, the panel would like to thank Charles Hach, Sandra Hyland, Lois Lobo, Janice Prisco, Shirley Ross, Teri Thorowgood, and Pat Williams, staff members of the National Materials Advisory Board. The panel is also appreciative of the efforts of Carol R. Arenberg, editor, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems.
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Contents
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Tables, Figures, and Boxes
Tables
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Figures
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Boxes
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Acronyms and Abbreviations
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