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Remarks by Jacques Duchesneau, C.M., President and CEO, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
Conference Board of Canada:
Business & Technology Opportunities in National Security
and Public Safety
December 6, 2005
Toronto Congress Centre
Toronto, Ontario
In security, our business is to anticipate the unexpected. I suppose this tenent is also applicable in the business world. In order to remain competitive, businesses must constantly strive to stay ahead of the competition, whether it is with technological improvements or providing better service and cost savings to consumers.
Just as private businesses must anticipate the unexpected in order to stay competitive, we in the security world must also anticipate the unexpected to stay one step ahead of the terrorists.
As you know, the nature of the threat is changing and terrorist methods are constantly evolving. As a result, our systems and procedures cannot remain static, we too must evolve.
My three main messages for today are going to be
- Security has improved since 9/11
- We will continue to improve our screening systems
- Technology plays an important role but it will never replace human judgement.
In order to give you a better understanding of aviation security in Canada and who we are at the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, I'd like to frame my speech around two basic questions:
- Where are we now?
- Where are we going?
Where are we now? General Overview of CATSA
The Canadian government's hallmark response to 9/11 was the creation of CATSA on April 1, 2002.
Our mission is to: "To protect the public by securing critical elements of the air transportation system as assigned by the government."
CATSA's first and foremost priority is security. We are tasked with protecting the lives of air travelers.
We have put in place a layered security system to ensure that threat items do not get on board aircraft. We accomplish this through our six responsibilities.
We are responsible for pre-board screening of passengers and their luggage.
As well, CATSA is responsible for acquiring, deploying, operating and maintaining sophisticated explosives detection systems at airports.
We are adding another layer of screening for non-passengers using biometric readers. The restricted area identification card uses fingerprint and iris identifiers to screen airport workers entering restricted areas.
We contract RCMP officers to protect selected flights and all flights to Reagan National Airport. We help fund police programmes and on-site presence at airports.
We are a focused, innovative, resilient and accountable security organization that has delivered on those six responsibilities.
All of these programs work independently but in tandem to deter terrorist attacks.
Technology plays a very important role in CATSA's security systems. But I must stress that while technology plays an integral role, it will never replace human judgment. That being said, we have had some great successes with new technology.
As I mentioned, RAIC (Restricted Area Identification Card) which uses biometrics to give airport workers access to restricted areas.
Also, we are in the midst of developing a new program in collaboration with Transport Canada called the Registered Travellers Program.
Registered Traveller is designed to identify lower-risk passengers and process them with expedited screening procedures.
Interested passengers would undergo a voluntary risk assessment, involving a thorough background check. Those who are deemed 'lower-risk' would be enrolled in the Registered Travellers program. They would be identified at screening points using biometric identification which would provide them access to an expedited screening procedure.
Another technological tool that has achieved great success in our training programs is X-Ray Tutor and TIPS.
X-Ray Tutor is a computer-based training program for screening officers. The software is designed to help screening officers improve their ability to identify threat objects in passenger baggage. XRT simulates images similar to those displayed on x-ray machines for baggage screening. The XRT program is like a video game: screening officer's progress is measured through several levels of complexity, each level offering different and increasingly challenging images.
We have another training program called TIPS. This is a software program that operates on the x-ray equipment. TIPS software projects fictional images of threat objects (IED, gun, knife) within the x-ray image of a real bag. The screening officer's task, as with real threats, is to detect these threat images when they occur.
As the President and CEO of CATSA, I can tell you that after three and a half years of operations, we have accomplished what we were set up to do thanks in part to technology.
We have the best security system possible for the Canadian context; one that balances security with the rights and freedoms of passengers. I would even go so far as to say that Canada has one of the best aviation security systems in the world today. At CATSA we screen over 37 million passengers a year, along with 60 million pieces of luggage and over 2,000 airport workers are screened daily.
We have installed state-of-the-art screening equipment. We have instituted some of the world's best training for screening officers. We invest over $4,000 in the training of each screening officer, having doubled and even tripled the level of training compared to pre 9/11 levels. We are a recognized world leader in the implementation of biometric security cards and are leading the way in bringing together countries, including the US, UK, Australia and Israel to share best practices.
Just as we share best practices internationally, CATSA has also initiated an inter-agency forum for Canadian government departments and organizations involved in security screening to share best practices domestically. It is through sharing information and best practices that we can learn and evolve our systems.
We are far more secure today than we were just 3½ short years ago. This is evidenced in the fact that more people are flying now than ever before. In 2004, there were 1.9 billion passengers up from 1.7 billion in 2003.
Yes we are more secure. But just as I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, we can do more. We have to continuously improve and enhance the system so that we do not become predictable.
Where are we going?
Just as terrorists evolve, we must evolve too. We know that terrorists will adapt to the security measures we have put in place. No security system will ever be 100% effective.
How then do we do our job more effectively?
We need to look at how we are going to be doing our job in the airport of the future. Our focus must always remain on security, but we must also take into account customer service.
We are seeing more and more evidence of passengers becoming frustrated with the long lines at screening checkpoints and invasive searches. How soon we forget. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, the few people who did manage to muster the courage to travel by air quite happily waited in long lines and diligently removed their shoes and surrendered their nail clippers. But today, we see growing impatience and complacency. The traveling public and regular citizens are our most important allies. We cannot afford to lose their support. We need public cooperation in order to make our security system work. We have the power, we have the authority, but we are useless unless we have passenger cooperation. We must look at how we can change our methods and evolve according to the nature of the threat.
We need to focus on detecting bad people and bad things rather than on giving each person the same level of scrutiny when this is clearly not necessary.
For example, rather than putting all passengers through the same screening process, we are looking at ways to focus our energy and resources on high risk passengers. Only a very small percentage of the traveling public poses a real threat. We need to focus our energies on this percentage and make things easier for the 80-year old grandmothers and two-year-old children.
If we wanted to provide 100% security then we would essentially devastate the travel industry because people would never want to show up at the airport five hours before their flights and proceed through an extensive screening process.
Instead, our security systems must work cooperatively with both the passengers and the airline industry to ensure a focus on security but with a proper balance of customer service.
We need to make our screening process more risk-based as opposed to applying the same level of security to all passengers. This is the underlying concept in our registered traveller program.
The number of passengers worldwide is only going to increase this we can count on and with that brings increased numbers of passengers passing through screening checkpoints. In order to be able to process this increased number of people, we need to look at different ways of providing the same level of security while making changes and modifications to our processes, equipment and physical space at the airport.
What will the airport of the future look like?
Will there be an invisible security system? Will we have sensors when people enter the airport? Will there be new machines that can detect hidden weapons and explosives hidden under clothing? Will we be using new technology to make throughput faster? How can we make screening more customer-friendly? How will we provide new training for screening officers? Will we have new tools to measure effectiveness of security procedures and equipment?
CATSA in collaboration with Transport Canada is always researching new technologies that will enhance airport security and customer service.
As an innovative, focused, resilient and accountable security organization we are constantly striving to be at the top of the security industry. The latest technology and best practices are our tools. But more important are the people behind the technology. Just as the nature of the threat is constantly evolving, so to must our screening technology.
Winston Churchill once said:
"To build is a slow and laborious task that can take many years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day."
Conclusion
In conclusion, the system we have put in place has improved since September 11th, 2001 and it will continue to improve. Thanks in part to technology and the work of screening officers.
Screening officers have a tough job to do. They must make a decision in 20 seconds on the contents of a bag. They make 97 million decisions a year (37 million passengers and 60 pieces of luggage every year).
Take the example of the flight attendant on September 11th, 2001. She was checking in one of the highjackers. She had a gut feeling -a strong feeling- that something didn't feel right. She did not act on her gut feeling and the highjacker boarded the flight. We know the end results. But my point to this story is that we cannot automate a gut feeling, we will never be able to automate human judgment.
Yes technology plays a major role in ensuring our systems are protected and innovations that address the latest threats are essential in this ongoing fight. But we must never forget that equipment, technology and human judgment go hand in hand; it is this combination that gives strength to our layered system.
I leave you with this quote:
"Good security uses technology, but centres around people. People are resilient. People can improvise. People can be creative. People can develop on-the-spot solutions. People are the strongest point in a security process." (Bruce Schneier, Beyond Fear1)
1- Bruce Schneier, Beyond Fear, Copernicus Books, pg. 133, 2003
