Another city, another terrorist atrocity, more innocent dead and three bigoted fanatics who will no longer be a threat to decent society. The assault on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport was a classic terror crime almost certainly carried out by Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS).
Unlike at Brussels, security at Istanbul’s primary airport was strict and well-organized. Passengers and all their baggage are screened before they can enter the terminal buildings. Unfortunately, this precaution carries with it its own risk. At busy periods, there is a build-up of people waiting to pass through the screening. It was these queues that the gunmen attacked on Tuesday evening.
Around the world, airport managers are looking at the installation of hundreds of screening devices, which will avoid the creation of crowds waiting to access terminals. Also on the cards is the use of blast-proof glass in the huge windows so characteristic of modern airports. Moreover, there are even questions about the airy, open plan nature of most terminals. Perhaps there need to be stout dividers that will ensure that an explosion is confined to a small area.
Then, of course, there is the increasingly attractive option of passenger profiling. Washington is already considering requiring social media links for those applying for a visa. Mining Big Data for suspicious information is already happening as police and security forces seek to track down those responsible for terror crimes. It is no big step to deploy this tactic to track down those who might be responsible for a future terrorist crime.
Facial recognition is also widely deployed. How long will it be before, in the name of security, DNA samples will be required? This unique individual signature will not only identify one person, but also members of his or her family.
Libertarians will of course complain about this as they have most other upgrades in security to protect airline passengers - most recently the full-body scanners. But the truth is that few passengers really object to irksome provisions, such as removing shoes, having computers scanned separately and not taking liquids onboard.
Once upon a time, air travel was a relaxed, if expensive, pleasure. It was perfectly possible for passengers to ask the captain if they could occupy the “third seat” in the cockpit, during takeoff or landing. Now flight crew work behind an armored door. The Palestinian hijackings of the 1970s triggered the steady increase in security which has turned air travel into something less than a pleasure. It is frankly not good being viewed as a potential terrorist, especially if your religion or race or skin-color immediate ticks boxes in the surveillance apparatus. Some people hate walking through “Nothing to Declare” channels. They feel hugely guilty, even though they really do have nothing to declare. Imagine how much worse it is for people who are proud to be Muslims, proud to be Arabs, but who know that as soon as they appear on an airport’s security radar, they are being watched with extra care.
There is no easy way out of this. Everyone wants to travel safely. The issue of proportionality is a hard one. On average, every two days, more people perish in car wrecks in Turkey than were murdered at Ataturk Airport. Yet the authorities are doing little to make Turkish roads safer.
