AIRPORT SAFEGUARDS

Profiling tactic apparently failed

By Stephen Kurkjian, Globe Staff, 9/13/2001

oth United Air Lines and American Airlines had security procedures in place at Logan International Airport Tuesday that were specifically designed to prevent suspicious individuals who fit the profile of terrorists from getting on commercial flights.

The procedures, which were issued in the mid-1990s following the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, require that those who fit the profile be subject to additional scanning of their luggage and a check of their bodies before they are allowed to board.

But, according to airport officials, none of the suspected terrorists who gained control of American Flight 11 and United Flight 175 and crashed the jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center were subjected to such scrutiny at Logan.

''From what we know so far, they fit the profile [for added scrutiny] in some ways, and in others they didn't,'' said one official. ''Why the alert didn't go off on them is one of the many things we're looking at.''

The airlines maintain a computerized checklist of about 25 factors that are weighed in determining whether an individual is given added scrutiny, officials said. Some key factors include whether the individual has paid cash in purchasing a ticket, or whether the ticket was one-way or bought at the last minute.

If the individual has an Arabic surname or appears to be of Arabic descent, or has recently flown to or from the Middle East, he or she might be subject to special scrutiny, the officials said.

According to officials, 12 men with Arabic surnames were on the American and United flights and are being investigated for possible involvement in the hijackings.

It is not known how all of them purchased their tickets, but at least four of them bought one-way tickets from Boston to Los Angeles and purchased them with the same credit card.

If an individual's profile triggers an alert, that person is told that their baggage or body is going to be searched. If the person refuses to allow the search, he or she is not allowed to board the plane, officials said.

An airport security employee said that one person in charge of screening passengers entering the United flight saw ''an Arab guy looking suspicious'' but did not report it because a colleague told her she was mistaken.

The employee, who asked not to be identified, said the man inspected the X-ray machine and the walls and ceilings around the entry point to Gates 11 through 21 in Terminal C.

The security worker said she could not be sure the man she saw was one of the hijackers who boarded Flight 175, but said that a United ticketing agent, asked by FBI interviewers to describe any suspicious-looking passengers, provided the same description.

FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler acknowledged that airlines have in place an FAA-approved computer system for screening passengers who may present a security risk. But she insisted the system does not use criteria based on race, ethnicity, or religion.

She declined to comment on any specific elements of the program.

Raphael Lewis and Matthew Brelis of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Stephen Kurkjian can be reached at [email protected].

This story ran on page A10 of the Boston Globe on 9/13/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.