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Its about time we ask "the experts"...

How Israel Secures its Airline

New York (CNN)

In the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Flight 253, authorities are ramping up air passenger screening, particularly for those flying from 14 nations that the U.S. describes as "state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest."

Hundreds more full body scanning machines are on order for U.S. airports. But some airline security experts say the real answer to greater security is to follow the approach used by Israel's airline, El Al.

Isaac Yeffet, the former head of security for El Al and now an aviation security consultant in New York, said El Al has prevented terrorism in the air by making sure every passenger is interviewed by a well-trained agent before check-in.

"Stop relying only on technology," Yeffet told CNN. "Technology can help the qualified, well-trained human being but cannot replace him."

Yeffet spoke to CNN Friday.

CNN: What do you think we've learned about airport security from the failed bombing in Detroit?

Isaac Yeffet: We learned one thing. We do not have a good security system to be able to prevent tragedies in this country.

After Lockerbie, everyone thought, now we've learned the lesson of how to be proactive instead of being reactive. Unfortunately, September 11 came and we know the result. Thousands of people lost their lives. Security totally failed, not at one airport, at three different airports around the country.

In 2002, we had Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. This man gave the security people all the suspicious signs that any passenger could show. The man got a British passport in Belgium, not in England. Number Two: he flew to Paris, he bought a one-way ticket from Paris to Florida. He paid cash. He came to the airport with no luggage. What else do I need to know that this passenger is suspicious?

What did we learn from this? Just to tell the passenger from now on, you take off your shoes when you come to the airport? This I call a patch on top of a patch.

Now we face the story with [Umar Farouk] AbdulMutallab. We had all the information that we could dream the security people could get. He was on the list of people connected to al Qaeda. I don't need more to understand that when he comes, I am not looking for more evidence. He is suspicious; I have to take care of him.

His father called the U.S. Embassy a month before he took the flight and told the U.S. Embassy that his son had called and said this was the last time you were going to hear from me. And the father warned the U.S. Embassy that his son was going to do something bad, watch him. What happened to this information?

The guy bought a ticket and paid $3,000 cash. ... No one knew the information that we had about him, no one could interview him and to ask him why is he flying to America.

CNN: What needs to be done to improve the system?

Yeffet: It's mandatory that every passenger -- I don't care his religion or whatever he is -- every passenger has to be interviewed by security people who are qualified and well-trained, and are being tested all year long. I trained my guys and educated them, that every flight, for them, is the first flight. That every passenger is the first passenger. The fact that you had [safe flights] yesterday and last month means nothing. We are looking for the one who is coming to blow up our aircraft. If you do not look at each passenger, something is wrong with your system.

CNN: What is El Al's approach to airline security? How does it differ from what's being done in this country?

Yeffett: We must look at the qualifications of the candidate for security jobs. He must be educated. He must speak two languages. He must be trained for a long time, in classrooms. He must receive on-the-job training with a supervisor for weeks to make sure that the guy understands how to approach a passenger, how to convince him to cooperate with him, because the passenger is taking the flight and we are on the ground. The passengers have to understand that the security is doing it for their benefit.

We are constantly in touch with the Israeli intelligence to find out if there are any suspicious passengers among hundreds of passengers coming to take the flight -- by getting the list of passengers for each flight and comparing it with the suspicious list that we have. If one of the passengers is on the list, then we are waiting for him, he will not surprise us.

During the year, we did thousands of tests of our security guys around the world. It cost money, but once you save lives, it's worth all the money that the government gave us to have the right security system.

I used to send a male or female that we trusted. We used to give them tickets and send them to an airport to take a flight to Tel Aviv. We concealed whatever we could in their luggage. Everything was fake, and we wanted to find out if the security people would stop this passenger or not.

If there was any failure, the security people immediately were fired, and we called in all the security people to tell people why they failed, what happened step by step. I wanted everyone to learn from any failure. And if they were very successful, I wanted everyone to know why.

CNN: Let's say all the airlines instituted the system that you're talking about. So let's say I go to an airport for a flight to London. What should happen?

Yeffet: When you come to the check-in, normally you wait on line. While you wait on line, I want you to be with your luggage. You have to meet with me, the security guy. We tell you who we are. We ask for your passport, we ask for your ticket. We check your passport. We want to find which countries you visited. We start to ask questions, and based on your answers and the way you behave, we come to a conclusion about whether you are bona fide or not. That's what should happen.

CNN: Every passenger should be interviewed, on all flights?

Yeffet: Yes, 100 percent...

I want to interview you. It won't take too long if you're bona fide. We never had a delay.

Number two, I have heard so many times El Al is a small airline. We in America are big air carriers. Number one, we have over 400 airports around the country, why hasn't anyone from this government asked himself, let's take one airport out of 400 airports and try to implement El Al's system because their system proved they're the best of the best.

For the last 40 years, El Al did not have a single tragedy. And they came to attack us and to blow up our aircraft, but we knew how to stop them on the ground. So let's try to implement the system at one airport in the country and then come to a conclusion...

CNN: What do you think of using full body scanners?

Yeffet: I am against it, this is once again patch on top of patch. Look what happened, Richard Reid, the shoebomber, hid the explosives in his shoes. The result -- all of us have to take off our shoes when we come to the airport. The Nigerian guy hid his explosives in his underwear. The result -- everyone now will be seen naked. Is this the security system that we want?

We have millions of Muslims in this country. I am not Muslim, but I am very familiar with the tradition, I respect the tradition. Women who walk on the street cover their body from head to toe. Can you imagine the reaction of the husband? Excuse me, wait on the side, we want to see your wife's body naked?... This is not an answer.

I appreciate what the president said, but we need to see the results on the ground at the airports. ... I strongly recommend that TSA call experts ... and not let them leave before they come to conclusions about what must be done at each airport to make sure that we are really pro-active. Let us be alert, let us work together, and show no mercy for any failure, no mercy.

If we do this system, believe me we will show the world that we are the best proactive security system and the terrorists will understand that it's not worth it to come to attack us.

CNN: Would it be more expensive to provide the kind of security system you recommend?

Yeffet: For sure El Al spends more money on security than the American air carriers. But the passengers are willing to pay for it if we can prove to them that they are secure when they come to take a flight.

What to say at that special moment.....

For anyone who has seen the movie "Boondock Saints" this quote is so damn cool in the right place : "And shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine Patirs, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. "


That's all.....just way cool.

What to say at that special moment.....

For anyone who has seen the movie "Boondock Saints" this quote is so damn cool in the right place : "And shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand, that our feet may swiftly carry out Thy command. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee, and teeming with souls shall it ever be. In nomine Patirs, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. "


That's all.....just way cool.

The Soldiers' Christmas Poem

 The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, 
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.  
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, 
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest. 

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, 
Transforming the yard to a winter delight. 
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, 
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.  

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, 
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. 
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, 
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream. 

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, 
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.  
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. 

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, 
And I crept to the door just to see who was near. 
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, 
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.  

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, 
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. 
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, 
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.  

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
 "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!  
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, 
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!" 

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, 
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light 
Then he sighed and he said, "Its really all right,  

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night. 
It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, 
That separates you from the darkest of times.    
No one had to ask or beg or implore me, 
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.  

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December," 
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers.
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ', 
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.    

I've not seen my own son in more than a while, 
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.”  
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, 
The red, white, and blue... an American flag. 

“I can live through the cold and the being alone, 
Away from my family, my house and my home. 
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, 
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.  

I can carry the weight of killing another, 
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.. 
Who stand at the front against any and all, 
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

  "So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright, 
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
 "But isn't there something I can do, at the least, 
Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast? 

It seems all too little for all that you've done,  
For being away from your wife and your son."     
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, 
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.  

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, 
To stand your own watch, no matter how long. 
For when we come home, either standing or dead, 
To know you remember we fought and we bled. 

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,  
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us." 

     PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many  people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our  U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people   stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.