Making the Sky Secure

Faced with the frustration of dealing with the intractable demands of hijackers, President Reagan began his press conference last week by taking a stern stance on a more tangible issue: the safety of future U.S. air travelers. He called for putting plainclothes guards on U.S. planes flying abroad and advised Americans not to travel through Athens International Airport. Within 24 hours the Senate appropriated $2 million to more than triple the number of marshals (even though many experts question their value) and Pan Am suspended flights to Athens. The measures, though tangential to the current crisis, reflected the rising concern with airport security in an age of global terrorism.

It was not certain how the hijackers of TWA Flight 847 spirited their 9-mm pistol and two grenades aboard the plane. Ali Atwa, a member of the Shi'ite team who did not board and was subsequently arrested in Athens, told officials that the weapons had been wrapped in fiber glass to avoid detection. Security experts, who say that fiber glass cannot foil X-ray machines, believe it is more likely that the arms had been planted on the plane by an accomplice, perhaps an airport worker.

Either way, security, or the lack of it, at the Athens airport has long been a concern. "There is no question that it has the weakest security of any major West European airport," says David Kyd of the International Air Transport Association. As a result, since 1982 several airlines, including TWA, have had their own supplemental screening systems. Four times during the past five years IATA officials have visited Athens to plead with the government to improve the situation. Greek officials claim they are scapegoats for U.S. frustration. Protests Transportation Minister Evangelos Kouloumbis: "The security is just as good as at any European airport."

The screening of passengers and their baggage has been routine at all major terminals since the mid-1970s. Individuals must pass through a metal detector, and carry-on luggage is examined, usually by an X-ray machine. These devices can occasionally be fooled: lead-lined bags sold to protect film can shield weapons from detection, and metal foil can sometimes be used to distort the shape of an image. It is up to the operator of the X-ray machine to insist on opening a bag for closer inspection when a blank mass or an unusual image appears on the screen. Checked luggage is not routinely examined or X-rayed. When there is cause for suspicion, such as a discrepancy between the number of people who check in for a flight and the number who actually board, airlines may empty the plane and ask passengers to identify their bags. The object is to prevent terrorists from putting a bomb on the craft and then not boarding it, or from shipping arms to fellow terrorists at another airport.

El Al, the Israeli airline, undoubtedly has the tightest security of all. Every piece of luggage, whether checked or carried on, is inspected, and security officials interview each passenger, often in considerable detail. As many as ten plainclothes guards ride each plane. Not surprisingly, El Al has not had a hijacking since 1968. The airline credited an increase in bookings last week to its security efforts.

As screening techniques have become more sophisticated, so have hijackers. Rare is the modern air pirate who risks detection by carrying a weapon on board. More often a confederate, such as a member of an airline ground crew or a maintenance worker at an airport, plants the gun either on the plane or somewhere in the terminal beyond the screening machines. The wall of security does seem to have deterred many of the lone gunmen who so often diverted flights to Cuba in the 1970s; the number of hijackings around the world has steadily decreased, from 91 in 1969 to 17 last year. Still, the precautions have not yet been able to thwart highly organized, professional terrorists like those who found a way to get guns aboard TWA Flight 847.