COUNTER TERRORISM
www.counterterrorbusiness.com
INTELLIGENCE-LED BORDER MANAGEMENT Andrew Preistley, business development director at Arinc, looks at how intelligent-led border management is fundamental to fighting terrorism ITHOUT TOOLS man is nothing, with tools he is all,” proclaimed Scottish historian Thomas Carlyle over 200 years ago. What he should have added was that tools alone – whatever the situation – are never enough. Their effectiveness depends on the way in which they are used. So while those in charge of border management have highly sophisticated tools at their disposal – everything from electronic passports to full body scanners – it seems that some potential terrorists manage to slip through the security net with consummate ease. The truth is that even the most cutting edge border control technology needs two additional factors if it is to be really effective. The first is back-up by personnel trained to spot the nuances of human behaviour that escape electronic detection. The second is a system of international standardisation and collaboration that enables passenger information to be shared – speedily, reliably and securely. In other words, intelligence-led border management that collects and processes information to all relevant national and international agencies, harmonising standards of identifying, verifying and authenticating passengers, and then acts on that information appropriately. So what’s the hold-up?
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COMMON-LANGUAGE DATA SERVICE The main stumbling block is said to be the technical problems created by the range of different data sources and formats used by various agencies. This can be easily overcome with the use of ARINC’s Electronic Borders – an end to end immigration service that combines many data sources, potentially including Advance Passenger Information System (iAPIS) and Passenger Name Records (PNR) along with other data sources, such as government watch lists. Translating messages from disparate agencies and systems, it provides a unique screening solution that enables Border Control Agencies (BCAs) to make accurate and swift decisions on every traveller whilst maintaining passenger privacy. Using ARINC’s private, highly secure AviNet global communications network, Advance Passenger Information (API) can easily be sent to the country of origin and/or destination, allowing seamless, efficient and reliable communications between airlines
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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR SECURITY TECHNOLOGY
While those in charge of border management have highly sophisticated tools at their disposal – everything from electronic passports to full body scanners – it seems that some potential terrorists manage to slip through the security net with consummate ease and BCAs. Designed to handle critical, sensitive information and with 99.999 per cent availability, AviNet is a proven industry standard around the world. More and more governments require airlines to provide API so they may collate electronic lists of passengers and crew in advance of travel. With any carrier that fails to supply this information being hit where it hurts – in the pocket – by a heavy per-passenger fine, Electronic Borders offers the ideal standards based solution. Configured to be as cost-effective as possible, it requires no new system development, and in many cases, even the modification of existing systems, thanks to ARINC’s recognition of the industry’s need to minimise operating costs and avoid putting additional strain on budgets that are already stretched to the limit. The combined use of iAPIS and PNR enables security resources to be employed more effectively to target undesirables for screening whilst enabling faster processing of low-risk
passengers. BCAs, law enforcement organisations and intelligence services get a valuable head-start on checking names against watch lists, highlighting suspect travel patterns, assessing potential risks and locating suspects. ADDRESSING DATA SECURITY CONCERNS Understandably, data protection remains a real concern for many, particularly where API messages are transmitted by e-mail and over the internet. This is not an issue with a fully-managed IP network like ARINC’s AviNet, which provides a level of reliability and end-to-end security that is lacking in a public internet connection. Carriers using AviNet can be confident of fully complying with their legal obligations whilst simultaneously protecting the privacy of their passengers. The subsequent use and storage of data by the recipients, however, is not always so assured. Within the European Union there are strict regulations in addition to