Speech by General (Ret'd) Maurice Baril
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Canadian Air Transport Security Authority

AT THE

ACI-NA 14th Annual Conference & Exhibition

September 21, 2005
Toronto , ON

Check against delivery

Thank you for inviting me today.

I am honoured to be part of this distinguished panel to talk about air security and the changes on our horizon.

I hope at the end of my discussion, you will have a greater appreciation for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority….

what we do on a daily basis…

and the security challenges ahead for all of our partners in civil aviation.

C'est tout un honneur pour moi de faire partie de ce conseil émérite pour vous parler de la sûreté aérienne ainsi que des changements qui attendent à l'horizon.

J'espère qu'à la fin de mon discours vous connaîtrez mieux l'Administration canadienne de la sûreté du transport aérien….

ce que nous faisons chaque jour…

ainsi que les défis en matière de sûreté que tous nos partenaires de l'aviation civile devront relever.

As you heard from my colleague, Margaret Purdy from Transport Canada, the threat of terrorism is real. It is a constantly evolving enemy.

When that enemy struck on September 11, 2001, the Canadian government saw a clear and immediate need to create CATSA.

Immediately after the attacks, Canadians – myself included – had no appetite to fly. We were reluctant, in fact fearful of air travel.

CATSA's job initially, was to restore confidence in our air transport system. On that front, we have succeeded.

The proof is in the numbers: Canadians are flying more today than they were before 9/11.

They tell us in customer surveys that they believe CATSA is doing a fine job delivering customer satisfaction.

In an EKOS Research survey last March, over 90% of passengers expressed their satisfaction with the professionalism and process at pre-board screening points across the country.

Still, we have a long way to go. More on that in a moment.

First, let me take a few moments to tell you about CATSA.

The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority is a Crown corporation. We report to Parliament through the Minister of Transport.

We are visible as the frontline of passenger and baggage screening at 89 airports across the country. Every year, CATSA screens more passengers than there are Canadian citizens;

over 35 million passengers and nearly 60 million pieces of luggage.

Since 9/11, in cooperation with Canadian airports, CATSA has deployed more than 2400 of 2500 pieces of world-class screening equipment for checked baggage. By the end of the year, all 2,500 pieces of machinery will be deployed at 89 airports under CATSA's watch.

By January 1, 2006, our screening of checked luggage – or hold baggage – will not only meet but exceed international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation - - 100 per cent screening of checked baggage will be underway across Canada by screening officers and enabling technology.

Bragging aside, our focus day-in, day-out, is security.

At the same time, we have to perform a delicate balancing act; balancing security with customer service…

cost with reality…

and the need to evolve with the constraints of our current system.

We have in place an effective security apparatus. It combines highly trained personnel with the most current technology. Our solution is a uniquely Canadian formula.

It meets stringent security needs.

All the while, delivering a level of high customer satisfaction.

Today, CATSA has in place a system that works well and works efficiently.

But we are not satisfied with the status quo.

We must work with our partners – airlines and airports – to ensure we can continually improve security.

CATSA -- as an organisation and as a component in a global security network -- is striving everyday to make itself an unobtrusive, invisible system.

Eventually, we hope, travellers will barely see or feel that they are being screened.

We are achieving this in two ways:

We use the most current explosives detection and x-ray equipment available today.

We arm screening officers with the most rigorous training, certification and re-certification programs.

We implement across-the-board standards and operating procedures to reduce passenger screening time.

Average screening time per passenger is 2 minutes.

In addition to screening passengers and their baggage, we screen non-passengers. In other words, air crews and airport workers.

On any given day, CATSA screens 2,300 airport personnel.

By the end of this year, we will have a real-time, biometric identification system in place at 29 airports.

The new system will ultimately cover over 125 thousand airport employees.

Our new fingerprint and iris recognition system will make Canada a true leader in the implementation of biometric technology.

Speaking of advanced technology, we have constructed a state-of-the-art Security Communications Centre at CATSA headquarters.

We can remotely monitor just about every movement at major passenger screening points across Canada .

This monitoring capability enables us to react quickly to incidents and potential threats to air travel security.

All this advanced technology - and our entire security system - costs money.

94 cents of every CATSA security dollar go directly to frontline operations. Whether the money is directed at improving screening operations…

beefing up airport policing…

or stepping up RCMP undercover agents to protect flights…

the bulk of CATSA's funding is funnelled directly where it is needed most: to the airports and airlines to protect passengers.

In addition to our visible and invisible mechanisms, CATSA forms an effective line of defence behind the scenes by working with partners.

We work shoulder to shoulder with other partners in aviation security. These partners include intelligence and law enforcement agencies, airlines, airport authorities and Transport Canada.

Transport Canada sets policy and regulates air transport security.

And we operate within that framework.

But that framework needs to adapt in order for us to stay steps ahead of the terrorist threat.

Otherwise, there is a grave risk that the air security system we operate today will turn into the Maginot Line of the 21st century.

For those who don't follow military history, the Maginot Line was a series of defensive installations set up by France along its eastern border following the First World War. To the French, the Line was a robust, muscular defence against any threat. But not to the Germans. They simply DROVE AROUND the Maginot Line. The result was tragic: Paris fell because its security system failed to adapt to the threat.

Too often we focus on the fires on our doorstep. We ignore the smoke on the horizon.

The terrorist threat is constantly morphing. So we need to adapt at a faster rate. The box-cutters used in the September 11th attacks were NOT the weapon of choice in the London transit system attacks.

We face a significant challenge in ensuring that our air security apparatus remains responsive to the changes ahead.

To do that, we need guidelines that allow us to be fluid.

We have to ensure that we do not operate within a system of regulations that amounts to a present-day Maginot Line.

This will mean flexible funding, flexible regulations and access to intelligence.

Finding the right balance will be a key factor in ensuring security effectiveness.

A collective action in a multi-layered system needs to remain our approach.

CATSA is only a mechanism in a larger security apparatus.

We need to continue to work in tandem with the other partners in order for the entire apparatus to function efficiently.

If you think of security as an onion, CATSA is merely one protective layer.

Add Transport Canada , airlines, Airport authorities, RCMP, airport police and travellers themselves, and you have a whole system whose sum total is far more valuable than each part on its own.

In today's security community, we need to assess and anticipate threats…

We must intervene and respond BEFORE threats arise.

I realise that predicting the future is a fool's game.

But the defence and security communities cannot escape doing it.

We gather intelligence from our partners around the world. We work tightly with airport and travel industry personnel.

Our partnership… our sharing of information is a vital tool to help us forecast potential threats.

Equally important, though, are tools to help us respond.

In order to be responsive, we need to move beyond our current system.

Unfortunately, as you know, government framework does not change quickly.

In a fight with terrorists, stagnation and status quo are no ally.

So we need to re-think our current operating model and find ways to become more flexible.

Flexibility takes many forms.

Financial flexibility is one critical component.

It enables us to adapt to new threats in real time.

In terms of dollars and cents, we need to meet sudden contingencies. We may need to reallocate our spending urgently.

We may need to re-cast our budget rapidly as a new need arises.

As we evolve with the ever-changing threat, we can never lose focus of one crucial aspect in our job: customer service.

We need to deliver service and educate the public so that people who use the system embrace it rather than resent it.

When CATSA was created, our mandate was to manage fear.

We had to build back the confidence of Canadians in their air security system.

The fact that Canadians are travelling more than they did before the September 11th attacks tells me that we have rebuilt the confidence of the travelling public.

Retaining and further growing that confidence is a constant challenge.

Going back to the onion analogy…

the core of our focus has never changed:

It was and always will be the customer.

And when it comes to customers, there still is a great need for education.

We need to remind Canadians that they must remain vigilant and never let down their guard.

Four years have passed since the awful events of 9/11.

The memories have faded… they may not be as painful.

And unfortunately, in some minds, the need for stringent security measures has also slipped their minds.

But – and I cannot repeat or be more emphatic on this point – the threat is alive and well.

We must work together to face this threat.

We need to be vigilant across the system.

Airports as our partners play a major role in meeting this challenge.

We drive that point home every day to everyone who works at CATSA. Over 43 hundred screeners are reminded constantly that they cannot remain complacent. The consequences can be devastating.

As for passengers, complacency is something they too can ill afford.

Yet, we have a lot of education to do on that front.

There remains a lot of ignorance which results in delays, misdirected resources, and at times abusive behaviour by passengers.

Every day, our screening officers intercept toy guns, replica ammunition or pepper spray. We have a collection of 738 thousand prohibited items intercepted by screening officers last year alone.

Those items represent an immense clog in the system…unnecessary wait times and a total of 60,000 screening hours wasted…

all because passengers did not realize what they cannot pack.

Simple awareness can result in a huge time savings for thousands of passengers.

In the pre-board screening line, we need to educate passengers so they recognise and respect the vital role of screening officers.

The simple, two-minute screening exercise is essential to ensure they and their fellow passengers leave safely and arrive unharmed.

Ask any screening officer at any Canadian airport, and he or she can recount a story involving an unruly passenger.

There are daily cases of passengers verbally berating screening officers.

I hear incidents of travellers physically assaulting the very people whose sole job is to protect them.

On a regular basis, we have travellers from Vancouver to St. John 's falsely declare that they are carrying bombs.

In July 2005, we recorded 24 cases of threats and abuse against screening officers across the system.

This kind of treatment toward security personnel cannot continue.

We are noticing a growing level of frustration at screening points. Passengers who do not want to wait an extra two minutes, primarily because they do not realise the importance of the screening function.

I urge all of our partners in international security and air travel to help us help the travelling public.

It is our duty – ALL OF US -- to share the role of education.

By taking on the responsibility together to educate and diffuse unruly passengers, we can minimise wait times at airports…

cut the economic loss of that wait…

and ensure passengers have a greater appreciation of the crucial role we all play in their security.

In time, I hope that security will become second nature and seamless.

I hope, in time, we will be able to create a culture of security.

I envision – one day – when a screening officer's function will begin well before the passenger enters the airport.

The officer will have intelligence at his or her fingertips. Passengers will be able to breeze through invisible screening points.

The Registered Traveller Program is one approach. It would allow us to speed up the screening of travellers who we know are not a threat.

And we would be able to concentrate on the travellers about whom we need to know more.

This program would be the first step toward a threat-based security system. Away from a purely REACTIVE system.

In addition to a change in approach… our detection technology will eventually need to change as well.

As technology becomes cheaper and faster, we will deploy it.

And we will need to do that quickly to keep pace with the changing threat.

If we work together… collectively sharing the responsibility of security…

we will meet the challenges ahead.

We will meet them in the most cost-effective way.

As partners, we will make it our duty to maintain the delicate balance between the ever-changing security threat and ever-present need for customer service.

I'd like to leave you with a final thought…

Il a fallu attendre une génération pour que le geste d'attacher sa ceinture de sécurité devienne automatique chez les Canadiens et les Canadiennes.

J'espère qu'avec nos efforts constants et notre collaboration, il faudra moins de temps pour que les voyageurs – aériens, ferroviaires ou maritimes – deviennent automatiquement conscients des menaces en matière de sûreté qui les entourent.

Je vous remercie de votre temps.

It took a generation for Canadians to make it second nature to buckle up.

Hopefully, with our continued collaborative efforts, it will take less time for travellers -- whether they voyage by air, ground or sea – to make it second nature to be aware of the security threats all around them.

Thank you for your time.