Recent terrorist attacks have agencies mulling on action.
AB Wire
Adding to the frustration of airline passengers who sometimes spend hours in line to get past stringent security measures at airports in the United States, could be another layer of security to contend with: curbside checks on bags and metal detector checks on cars close to the actual drop-off zones in airports, by the TSA.
Recent attacks on international airports in Brussels and Istanbul have some US government agencies looking at expanded security perimeters, reported CBS News.
In both cases, terrorists in Brussels and Istanbul were able to bring bombs into airports, but not past checkpoints.
Moving those checkpoints to the curb or inspecting cars as they first enter the airport could keep terrorists from ever making it inside, said the CBS report.
“Everyone’s talking about it,” aviation security expert Denny Kelly was quoted as saying. “They’re talking about it in terms of, ‘Can we do this? And if we do it, what’s it going to cost us?’”
Kelly predicts it would be expensive and inconvenient.
“People are going to be late for their flights and miss their flights,” he said. “Even then it’s not gonna work because if someone is willing to give up their life, you’re not gonna stop them by putting a mirror under their car,” he said.
The idea has repeatedly come up in security discussions, but Kelly says it is unlikely to ever become reality.
Checks on cars entering the airport are common at most big cities in India, though. In some sensitive areas, there are more than one barrier point for checks on cars and baggage outside the drop-off zone.