Issy Boim: Airline Safety

Issy Boim is the president of Air Security International, a consulting firm that specializes in corporate aviation safety. He spent 22 years with the Israeli Security Services, where he worked in counter-intelligence and anti-terrorism, and helped found the aviation security concept for El Al Israeli Airlines. He has served as security director for airlines such as American, TWA, and Northwest.

CNN: We heard a lot of recommendations about air safety following the September 11 attacks. But what has actually happened since then?

ISSY BOIM: I think many things have happened since September 11. The main thing is that our concepts have been changed; our lives have been changed. Nothing will be the same. Therefore, all the security measures at the airports will not be the same anymore.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: How effective do you believe the sky marshal program would be in the U.S. and is it possible to have one on every flight?

RESOURCES Message Board:Safety in the skies

BOIM: Basically, the sky marshal program is a part of the security spectrum and steps to be taken in order to cover the flights and commercial aviation, and to make sure that the airplane and the passengers will not be used as a weapon or for any political demand. However, to put sky marshals on board is a process. It cannot be done overnight, it cannot be done in one or two months. It's a process that has to be developed, and if the goal is to put the sky marshals on domestic and international flights, it can be achieved.

CNN: You helped form the security programs for El AL, Israel's main airline. Describe the differences between that program and those in the United States.

BOIM: Basically there are a lot of differences. When we are talking about El Al operations, it's like one terminal in a medium airport in America. However, the principals are the same, which means the concept is to make sure that commercial aviation will not be used by terrorists. This is the thing in common, and that's why we can compare it as apples to apples, and we can implement principles from their program into our program.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: I heard it was easy to stop by and buy items that could be used as weapons from the airport shops. Is that true?

BOIM: Again, to me the question is how will we implement security measures in general. If we have problems or items that can be used as weapons, and they can be reached in the sterilized area, meaning after the checkpoints, we need to make sure they will be out of the way of the public to reach them. On the other hand, we need to be more flexible about what we decide not to allow to be taken on board. We can discuss, or I can mention different items that could become weapons, and this is another subject to discuss.

CNN: How much progress has been made to have airlines re-enforce cockpit doors?

BOIM: In principle, everyone understands that the cockpit should be off limits to everybody, regardless of what security measures we'll use in the future. I think the door and the future of the door is not important. The fact is that everybody understands that cockpits should be segregated from the cabin, and I'm sure after this has been issued to the airlines, they will do as much as they can in order to improve it. So to me, it's not only the side of the door or the kind of the door, but the manual that the airlines will have when and how cockpit doors should be open or closed.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: Do you think pilots should be armed?

BOIM: My personal opinion is that the crew should not be armed. I believe in rings of security, many, many rings that will cover the airplanes, that by the end of the day, the pilot should fly the airplane, and pilots should be relaxed that they have been defended by security procedures. He has the confidence that his environment is safe. If, God forbid, something happens in the cabin, it will not affect the cockpit directly, and he can operate according to procedures. If it will be done in this way, there is no reason for the pilots to be armed.

CNN: You were on an aviation task force chaired by Vice President Al Gore. What were the recommendations of that group? Could they have helped prevent the events of September 11?

BOIM: There were many recommendations as a result of the Gore commission. Remember that the Gore commission was created in order to respond to the suspicions that TWA [Flight 800] went down because of terrorist activity. The conclusion from the investigation suggested that it went down by mechanical failure, so it hasn't made the security recommendations that have been persist in this problem, on this commission in other committees, become mandatory. The major recommendations that have been implemented are that every passenger should show his ID card, and a few questions would be presented to every passenger in order to make sure that his belongings could not contain anything that can sabotage the flight. The question is how it has been implemented, and we know now that this didn't stop the terrorists. There were some recommendations about how to handle cargo and the passengers' belongings, but the details have not been published.

CHAT PARTICIPANT: How do you ensure full cooperation between airline and airport security?

BOIM: This is a very good question. Everybody thinks that the airlines are responsible for our September 11 disaster. The airlines did what they were supposed to do, based on the FAA requirements. FAA requirements were results of risk assessments that were made by our administration, and based on this risk assessment, they did not see -- or didn't have the inclination to believe -- that an airplane can become such a weapon or a powerful bomb. Accordingly the security measures have been implemented. So this happened to be in the past. The present and the future will suggest a different approach. I don't think that the airlines -- this is my opinion -- should be responsible directly for the security concept. Security concepts should be dictated to them, and they have to implement it accordingly. Airport security should be also a part of this program. It should be dictated and monitored by the institute to be chosen in the future to supervise and implement the security measures.

CNN: How likely is it that airport security will be federalized?

BOIM: Well, I believe that the security measures already are much better. To me, if we had today's security measures before September 11, maybe we would have saved ourselves from this disaster. However, the present security measures are not sufficient yet, and they should be improved and become more sophisticated. But we cannot anticipate that that will be fixed overnight. Our life after September 11 is like after a big earthquake or a flood. You cannot expect that in such a short period of time, life will go back to normal, and we need to look at this from the same point of view. It has not been fixed, but can be in a short period of time. Our test case will be if we are able to develop it and implement our solutions, then aviation would be off limits for terrorists.

CNN: Do you have any closing comments to share with us?

BOIM: In my business, we wish not to be mentioned in the news agency and the media. To me, I wish not to be interviewed in the future on this subject or objectives, and if I will be back in low profile and making or implementing our company's coverage and support, this is my aim, this is my goal. Then everybody can feel we are secure.

CNN: Thank you for joining us today.

BOIM: Thank you.

Issy Boim joined the chat room via telephone from Texas and CNN.com provided a typist. The above is an edited transcript of the interview on Thursday, October 25, 2001 at 1 p.m. EDT.