What Israeli Airport Security Teaches the World

June 19, 2012 by Daniel Wagner

Ben Gurion International Airport. llee_wu/Flickr

No country in the world faces more terrorist threats than Israel, and no airport in the world faces more such threats than Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. The Israelis have of course been the gold standard for establishing and maintaining security in all its forms.  Much of the airport’s security protocol is achieved through a combination of comprehensive due diligence, common sense, and consistency - which, one would think would be the objective of airport authorities throughout the world.  Yet very few other airports have achieved the level of security that exists at Ben Gurion. We explore why that is the case.

All vehicles that arrive at Ben Gurion must first pass through a preliminary security checkpoint where armed guards search the vehicle and exchange a few words with the driver and occupants to gauge their mood and intentions.  Plain clothes officers patrol the area outside the terminal building, assisted by sophisticated hidden surveillance cameras which operate around the clock.

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