Air Borders – Protected but porous Philip Wood MBE, Head of the School of Aviation and Security at Buckinghamshire New University, writes that although technology is a proven border control enabler, those who use it are the greatest disablers of its effectiveness. While there will always be a moral argument about who is permitted and entitled to cross borders, what credentials they need and criteria that they need to fulfil, border control is a necessity. If we think about what ‘border control’ means to many, this definition is a good place to begin: ‘Border control means measures adopted by a country to regulate and monitor its borders. It depicts a country’s physical demonstration of territorial sovereignty. It regulates the entry and exit of people, animals and goods across a country’s border. It aims at fighting terrorism and detecting the movement of criminals across the borders. In addition, it also regulates both legal and illegal immigration, collects excise taxes, prevents smuggling of illegal and hazardous material such as weapons, drugs, or endangered species, and prevents the spread of human or animal diseases. The degree of strictness at a border control varies depending upon the country and the border concerned.’ (USlegal.com) That seems to cover most aspects of border control and management. However, it gives a simplistic overview of what is a complicated issue, which becomes much more complicated when aviation, with its flexibility and multiple layers of activity and technology as well as the speed and pace of transit times and the diversity and sheer numbers of air travellers, are factored into the processes and concepts involved. Organisations such as ICAO are responsible for – and responsive to – this need to balance protection and permission, saying in their Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Guide that the “flow of travellers overwhelmingly benefits States, and as such, Border Control Management (BCM) arrangements should facilitate timely and cost-efficient processing of genuine travellers while simultaneously identifying, managing and mitigating risks, and responding to threats.” This conflict of needs brings significant challenges, with the aviation sector (and its governance bodies, governments and political influencers) attempting to manage the balance whilst transporting legitimate passengers and freight alongside criminals, smuggled goods and organisms, and those who are not necessarily criminals but who do not meet country entry criteria. How can Aviation balance the ‘need to say no’ with the ‘need to flow’? Firstly, it is important to understand the diversity and scale of the problem and how airlines and airports can facilitate illicit movement and activity; also, how they can prevent it. We are all familiar with the physical barriers in place at both ends of the passenger journey; and with the varying levels of checks and pre-checks that are carried out to identify that we are who we say we are, and that what we are carrying is legitimate, or legitimately ours. We have scanning, biometrics, personnel detection and surveillance systems and chemical trace detection. Our passports are checked against
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databases, manifests and other waypoints, ticketing and baggage movement are automated and supported by technology throughout; from passenger lists to our smart luggage tags. But still air borders can be porous. The problem that the US has recognised and dealt with in its own way is that despite the types of regulation and governance that do work being put in place at their airports; those in sending countries may be less reliable – so they push their border controls out to those countries and impose their own checks there. It’s a little ‘Roman Empire’; but if we want to travel to the US for work and leisure, that’s the arrangement in place. These hard measures are designed to manage the issue, and it is fair to say that by and large they are effective. In terms of other integrated approaches, the ICAO TRIP guidance offers potential solutions – or at least concepts for providing them, based on its five interlinked elements:
ICAO’s five interlinked elements. Note; MRTD = Machine Readable Travel Documents. Source: ICAO TRIP Guide.
These are well thought-out components of a strong identification management ‘ecosystem’, and ICAO’s guide explains them carefully and in detail. Importantly, ICAO also recognises and clearly emphasises the disparity in capabilities across national borders and infrastructures; and the need to factor that limitation into any assumptions or misconceptions about the security or otherwise of a border control system and workflow.
April/May 2019
