This paper explores the growing adoption of Israeli airport security methods in the United States, focusing on two primary strategies: security interviews and passenger profiling. It contrasts the Israeli approach—which targets specific populations at checkpoints before travelers reach the airport—with the American model of universal, indiscriminate screening. The paper examines how U.S. airports and airlines have begun incorporating Israeli-style pre-departure interviews and how fast-pass pre-check systems represent a form of self-profiling. It also addresses the challenges of scaling these methods to the much larger and more diverse U.S. traveling population, and evaluates the effectiveness and civil liberties implications of ethnic profiling in airport security.
As Gaines and Miller (2013) point out, American security forces focus on finding weapons while Israeli security focuses on finding terrorists. The difference gets to the heart of why the Israeli system is so much more efficient. However, Israel has a population of 8 million—less than that of New York City—and New York City is home to just one of many hubs and international airports in the U.S. Approximately 17 million travelers flew into Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel last year, which is about a third of the number that flew into JFK (Zeff, 2017; NBC, 2018).
Because of the sheer volume of travelers throughout the U.S., which dwarfs Israel's numbers completely, the question is whether Israel's methods can actually scale and work in a nation as large and open to the rest of the world as the U.S. The fact of the matter is that Israel's airport security is really only different from that of the U.S. in terms of place, intensity, and who is scrutinized. In the U.S., everyone is scrutinized. In Israel, most Israeli citizens are waived through after a few questions. Arabs and foreigners, on the other hand, are questioned extensively, undergo full luggage searches, and can be detained for hours—but this is not done at the airport itself. It is done at checkpoints on the road leading to the airport. That is why the airports themselves are not full of long lines; the lines form outside the airport (Gaines & Miller, 2013). Nevertheless, the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel means that many American airports have begun implementing Israeli-style security methods.
One of the primary ways that American airports are importing Israeli security methods is through the use of security interviews. Cathay Pacific Airways, for example, has updated its terms of service to incorporate a more stringent security process that includes security interviews for travelers; as a result, the airline "has advised travelers to arrive three hours before departure" (Haaretz & Reuters, 2017). These security interviews are conducted before passengers arrive at the American airport, mirroring the Israeli method of interviewing travelers before they reach the airport and board a flight.
The other method that American airports have incorporated in recent years is profiling. Israeli security forces are not shy about their profiling methods (Gaines & Miller, 2013). They stop and search all Arabs and foreigners far more extensively than they do Israeli travelers. The rationale is that security officials have profiled who the terrorists are and concluded accordingly, without deference to political correctness.
Following a failed attempt to detonate a bomb at a Detroit airport in 2010 by an Arab terrorist, President Obama ordered an upgrade to American security methods: "The Obama Administration declared that citizens and residents of fourteen countries—thirteen predominantly Muslim states plus Cuba—would be subject to enhanced airport screening when flying to the United States" (Hasisi, Margalioth, & Orgad, 2012, p. 518). This was considered a necessary step in profiling travelers and can be seen as a page taken from the Israeli security playbook, as it meant that "treating people differently depending on where they come from, or what passport they hold" would now be an acceptable screening method in the U.S. (Hasisi et al., 2012, p. 518).
As Hasisi et al. (2012) point out, "Israel does not admit that it employs ethnic profiling," but as their research demonstrates, regardless of whether the Israeli state formally acknowledges it, the practice most certainly occurs (p. 518)—a conclusion also supported by Gaines and Miller (2013). The only question is whether the method works, and judging by Israel's security record it appears that it does (Lowrey, 2010). In the U.S., the challenge is that there are so many diverse people—both citizens and foreigners—moving through American airports, making ethnic profiling far more difficult to implement than in Israel, where checkpoints are established on the roads leading up to the airport.
"Fast-pass systems as a digital profiling solution"
Israeli security methods have shown themselves to be effective because they primarily profile passengers to identify terrorists, whereas American security tends to scan everyone indiscriminately in order to avoid being accused of profiling. The latter method produces long lines and delays inside the airport. The former method produces lines and delays as well—but they form outside the airport. American airports are nonetheless catching up and beginning to adopt Israeli methods by obliging inbound airlines to conduct security interviews and by encouraging passengers to profile themselves before flying through the fast pass pre-check system.
You’re 73% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 1 section.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.