Israeli Agent Trains Police In Terrorism Questioning
Last updated Wednesday, May 7, 2008 8:02 PM CDT in News
By Jon Gambrell
The Associated Press
Related Photos
NORTH LITTLE ROCK - A woman clutches her purse and hunches her shoulders as an airport security guard questions her. Another man claims to be an executive waiting for a meeting, though he's wearing a track suit.
Incorrect answers and defensive behavior can be signs of a terrorist waiting to unleash an attack, a former agent with Israel's security service warned Arkansas police officers on Wednesday. But David Harel, who once worked as a sky marshal for El Al Airlines, acknowledges that safety comes at a cost.
"People forget sometimes the most important freedom of all is the freedom to life, the right to life," Harel told reporters during a break at a conference. "You have to constantly judge the balance of the right to life and the other rights which you expect in a democratic society. Sometimes, the right to life can be more important than some of the other rights and they have to be infringed on to guarantee the safety of its citizens."
Harel spoke to more than 100 federal, state and local officers as part of a conference put on by U.S. Attorney Jane Duke of Little Rock. Much of Harel's talk focused on learning the right way to spot and question suspicious individuals at airports and important events.
El Al, Israel's national airline, puts special emphasis on its agents to spot and quickly profile anyone who might be a threat as they enter an airport, not just when they move through security. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Harel said the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has begun using some of those steps in about 40 airports around the country.
Harel urged officers not to follow a rote series of questions, but rather ask questions based on a person's responses, like who they plan on visiting during a trip. Everything from what a person is wearing to whether they tremble or become aggressive can be signs, he said.
But Harel said profiling can be a tricky art, saying that "not everyone is a suspect." During part of the conference, he showed videos of a mock security agent interviewing suspicious people. After an agent walked away from two men with dark complexions without giving them a further check, someone in the crowd muttered "boom."
"You win on points in security. You have to have a multilayer approach," Harel said. "There's no knockout in security."
Joe Volpe, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the training had applications outside of terrorism. He pointed to when a University of Oklahoma student died after a homemade explosive he was carrying detonated near a packed football stadium in 2005. Police never found a clear reason why the student triggered the bomb.
However, Duke said U.S. residents needed to realize certain searches need to take place when dealing with security in critical areas, such as airports.
"When you're traveling, you have what we refer to as a diminished expectation of privacy," she said. "The balancing act sort of comes into play. You say, 'What is the individual's expectation of privacy and what are the competing needs that we have to ensure security?' When one goes down and the other goes up, we sort of strike that right balance."
Reader Comments (1 comment(s))
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsibility of their authors. The Morning News does not review comments before their publication, nor do we guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by our comment policy. If you see a comment that violates our policy, please notify the web editor.
Not already registered?
adabell wrote on May 7, 2008 8:44 PM: