1182302_CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT

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Nov 24, 2024

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Running head: CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT NAME COURSE INSTITUTION DATE

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT Introduction It is the role of the Homeland Security and Emergence Department to ensure that citizens are protected from local and international threats (Office of inspector general, 2014). In addition, the department has the task of responding to, and managing disasters. The issue that will be addressed in this research project relates to transportation security. The project will look into the problems facing aviation security in particular with the aim of coming up with solutions. It identifies that Homeland Security Department still faces a lot of challenges in terms of screening of passengers boarding the airplanes in order to determine if they are carrying any dangerous weapons. It is the view of this paper the Department of Homeland Security should come up with better screening strategies, efficient devices and trained staff in order to minimize or prevent any attack. Background to the study Effective security is a matter of concern that should be paid attention to because it affects every nation(Silke, 2003). Globally, terrorism attacks have been noted to occur frequently in several countries. Such attacks usually end up in massive destruction because of lack of preparedness. Silke highlights that most of the attacks that have been reported occur during transportation and especially air travel. He states that long air travels are usually targeted because they give the terrorists time to plan the attack without being noticed unlike the short journeys. According to Silke (2003), many attacks are conducted by individuals or small entities that claim to have a relation with the Al-Qaida. Terrorism attacks in the United States still remain a matter of concern because they emanate from within the country and internationally. There has been an

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT increase in the activities in the recent few years hence calling for the need of restructuring of policies and strategies that will counter the attacks. Counterterrorism success in the United States is reducing due to management and ineffective security actions in the security department(State News Service, 2013). Before the 9/11 attacks, screening for explosives in the aviation sector was limited to certain baggage especially those in international flights(Rollestone, 2012). After the attacks, the aviation and transportation security unit came up with strict policies and insisted on 100% screening of baggage on international flights to and from America. After the attacks, there was a safety upgrade in the transport sector where devices such as sensors, scanners and cameras that monitored the movement of passengers and baggage. United States spent more than $ 1.1 trillion to upgrade homeland security after the 9/11 attacks (U.S Department of Homeland Security, 2014). Despite the strategies and procedures that were put in place, (Paul (2012)highlights that homeland security is still vulnerable to threats due to manmade and technological errors. The United States and its allies still face threats from the Al-Qaida terrorists that insinuates that the country is not safe. Proper security, management, employees and continuous monitoring ought to be put in place for the country to be safe. Statement of the problem The States News Service (2013) states that the United States is facing threats in the transportation sector that is still lacking in terms of strategies meant to detect terrorism activities. Regardless of the strict screening act put in place by the Federal government, the transportation sector still experiences shortcomings in the procedure. Audits carried out on the transportation sector showed that there was need for improvement in passenger and cargo screening in order to

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CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT minimize threats. The challenge faced in the aviation sector relates to human and technological failures that hinder effective screening procedures(Silke, 2003). The challenges faced in aviation are lack of effective screening of passengers, cargo and baggage for explosives that may pose a threat to the passengers. Silke (2003), states that ineffective screening is due to failure of the screening devices and lack of an effective deployment strategy in place. The above challenges form the scope of this study and create a further need to know why there are ineffective screening processes. Research questions This paper aims to address the following research questions  What are the reasons for ineffective passenger and cargo screening?  Is there a relationship between screening and the devices used?  Do the level of skills of the staff affect the quality of screening procedures? Variables This study is meant to study a relationship between variables in order to determine the underlying cause of high terrorism activities faced by the transportation department of the Homeland Security. The variables that will be looked at include employee skills, technological devices used and screening strategies put in place. Hypothesis The study is meant to test the following hypothesis:  There is a direct link between skills of employees, devices used for screening and the level of effectiveness in the screening procedure.

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT Literature review The long standing focus of terrorist to aviation and transport sectors continues to be a threat to many nations. Aviation security is a major challenge that also faces the Homeland Security department(Painter, 2013). America is considered to be more vulnerable than other nations because of the war that it has with the terrorists. Not only is the problem unique to the department, Painter (2013) states that many nations still lag behind in terms of offering effective security in airports. Many at times, poor screening is associated with the staff that carries out the procedure. Paul (2012) notes that on most occasions, the staff carry out shallow screening procedures that contributes to harmful devices and substances getting their way to the airplanes. He states that in developing countries, aviation security in hampered by lack of efficient technology in place that can be able to detect even the smallest forms of explosives. Since the 9/11 attacks, aviation security has been a major concern for the American federal government. According to Robert & Holt (2005), airport security should first begin with proper identification of passengers. He however notes that in many airports, there is a lot of ease in which passengers pass the security gates even with fake boarding passes. Robert and Holt (2005) say that the major reason for the shortcoming is due to poor attention to detail by the boarding officers. They add that boarding tickets can easily be altered using Photoshop that can only be discovered by a keen eye. The authors however states that such errors can be avoided if the security staff take their time to scan the document and the person and double check to ensure that only the right passengers aboard the flight. In relation to the United States security, Silke (2003) argues that a lot of expenditure on security without proper strategies may have contributed to making the country unsafe.

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT Rollestone (2012) states that inefficiency in screening in the airports is caused by the employees who overlook some procedures that are important to detecting any form of explosive. He points that one of the procedure that is highly overlooked in some airports especially in developing countries in removing of shoes. However, Paul (2012) refutes this idea by stating that doing detailed screening on specific items such as shoes does not reduce the risks involved. He states that such procedure prompts the terrorists to come up with new ideas or something else that cannot be easily detected. Silke (2003) highlights that increasing threats to aviation security is caused by rising numbers of sympathizers to Al-Qaida terrorists. There are increased terrorism activities due to a decentralized terror network that originates from within the country. Combating terror crimes becomes even more difficulty when terrorists originate from within a country. The complexity arises because the terrorists know the procedures meant to counter their actions before hand and come up with alternative strategies Aviation terrorist attacks still remain high in many nations. One of the reasons why terrorist activities have risen is due to the internet and globalization (Robert, Fritsch& Holt, 2005). The social networks enable the terrorists to plan out their activities even from another country. Paul (2012) supports this notion by stating that advanced technology has claimed many lives to terrorism. After the 9/11 attacks, several countries came up with reformations in aviations security to counter the terrorist activities. However, Rollestone (2012) suggests that the activities have not been reduced because most of them emanate from within the homegrown terrorists and other local groups. Screening procedures have been termed to be futile in many nations because the recent attacks are effectively planned and conceptualized before being carried out. The terrorists also organize them in a way in that they are carried out by people that one cannot imagine. Silke (2003) states that screening is not efficient because the staff

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CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT sometimes ignore screening the local people thinking that they cannot harm their country. He argues that when it comes to terrorist, one does not mind whether they are harming their own country or not. According to Paul (2012), aviation security is hampered in several countries because of unmanned aircrafts. He states that aircraft manning is a task that the security officers should pay attention to. In their domestic airlines, the aircrafts are usually left without being attended to. He states that this is dangerous because explosives can easily be slipped into those aircrafts. The situation gets worse because most of those aircrafts do not get screened before the passengers get boarded making it easy to travel with hazardous substances without noticing. In the United States, Painter (2013), notes that intrusion to infrastructure has been a major problem to solving security problems. The open community and network has created an opportunity for the terrorists to perform their activities. Research design and methodology In order to analyze the challenges facing aviation security in Homeland security, this study employs a case study approach. Qualitative methodology of data collecting will be used because the information required is qualitative in nature. The study will rely on both primary and secondary data in relation to the topic. In relation to scope, the study will analyze the security challenges facing the aviation sector in the United States. The location was chose because America faces a lot of threats especially from the Al-Qaida terrorists. The study will narrow down to focus on the challenges faced by Homeland security Department because it is the department that is majorly concerned with protecting the whole of America. Primary data will be collected from the website of the Homeland Security Department. Data will take the form of

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT reports, reviews and analysis. Auditing reports will also be looked into to get objective results because they tend to be more neutral compared to the data that originates from within the organization. Results The documents established that the department had a major task of protecting the country’s transportation system that included provision of aviation security(Office of inspector general, 2014). Protection of airports majorly depends on effective screening. Paul (2012) notes that audits carried out on Homeland Security Department revealed that the department suffered from challenges such as financial management, communication and transportation security problems among others. It also revealed that in relation to screening, the department was still lacking because it was not effective enough. The audits further involved carrying out investigations on employees to know the reason behind ineffectiveness in screening. Investigations were carried out to determine whether the employees followed policies that were put in place to prevent entry of threats to flights. The investigations led to the findings that most of the employees failed to adhere to the principles that were set to protect the aircraft. The office of the inspector General (20140 reports that one or two procedures were usually skipped by the staff because they were considered to be less important. Another challenge that hampered efficient screening was related to the technological devices that were used(Department of Homeland Security, 2014). The department was limited in that it lacked comprehensive imaging devices that could easily detect even smaller explosives. States News Service (2013) states that the situation got worsened because most of the devices analyzed showed that they had actually failed. It was therefore, concluded that most of the

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT employees lacked assessment skills in regard to the functionality of the equipment that was used for screening purposes. It was suggested that employee training was necessary if security at airports was to be tightened. A report by Paul (2012) showed that another reason that hampered aviation security related to the deployment activities of the Homeland Security Department. It stated that the deployment strategy was ineffective because the advanced technological and security units were not linked to man the area. A specific case that was noted is where the inspection office did not effectively utilize its staff. As a result, inspection of airports was not carried out in a proper manner. Lack of enough planning was also noted where there were no quality controls on tasks. Such a gap made it easier for the employees to skip their tasks without being noticed. Lack of proper inspection in place jeopardized security and increased risks because it was not easier to address security vulnerabilities. According to Silke (2003),behavioral elements or characteristics of a person can be used to enhance the screening procedures. When keen, he argues that it is easier to note weird behaviors that are normally expressed by people carrying explosives or planning an attack. Proper screening requires one to have observational skills that will enable them to note any minor difference. In relation to the Homeland Security Department, an internal analysis clearly showed that most of the employees did not pay much attention to observing the passengers to be able to identify those that carried explosives with them. Moreover, Paul (2012) adds that the organization did not evaluate their employees to measure their screening passengers by observation techniques. Not only does the Homeland security suffer from this challenge, Paul (2012) observes that many nations do not pay attention to screening. Money is funded to other activities while the fundamental ones that can be able to detect crime are neglected. It is the view

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CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT of this paper that employees should be trained to easily identify suspects even before subjecting them other forms of screening. Conclusion and recommendations From the above findings, the Homeland Security Department faces several challenges that hamper effective aviation security provision. The finding answer the research questions in that the reasons for ineffective screening are usually caused by technological and human failures. It is clear that failure to use advanced technology leads to lack of detection of all harmful devices to flights hence putting the lives of the passengers at stake. Use of technology was also not maximized because some even were not detected that they had failed. The finding also present another reason for ineffective as lack of effective observational skills that are essential in complementing the technological screening devices. The data presented leads to another conclusion that yes, there is a link between the effectiveness of the screening process and the devices that were used. In this case, the devices that were used were not advanced while others failed. Findings from the study support the hypothesis of the study by stating that there is a link between the devices used and employee skills in offering effective screening procedures. The study led to further detailed by showing that management strategies put in place also play a big role in offering efficient security. It is also visible that lack of unity or teamwork in security units also jeopardizes the amount of security that is given. The operations of the units ought to be in line so that activities can be easily carried out. Rollestone 92012) states that if units are not harmonized, communication also gets affected. It creates a scenario where it identifying risks becomes a problem and responding to them gets slowed down.

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT The paper recommends that for aviation security to be heightened, the Homeland Security Department should pay attention to the strategies that they have put in place. They should have deployment strategies that address both short term and long-term goals. Having long-term goals is important because they take care of any unforeseen events that will be easier to solve if they emerged. The department also needs to invest in buying of new screening technologies that could easily detect explosives. Painter (2013) also states that newer technologies are not easily prone to failure. This paper however suggests that it is important to carry out continuous monitoring and testing of the equipment even if they are new. It will then be easier to detect any flaws or failure in the technology hence preventing crime. Use of technology should be maximized. It is also critical to have a body of decision makers that will evaluate the operations of the department and come up with effective strategies to improve services. This paper also proposes that attention should be paid to all aircrafts and facilities in the airport. The Security Department should deploy more staff and give them specific tasks. Division of labor will enhance accountability and compel the employees to work according to the required standards. The management of the department should also ensure that policies are followed. It is the view of this paper that carrying out employee evaluation and appraisal is critical to solving the problems that are faced by the department. The department should exploit all available information and watch lists so that they can be able to easily identify people who can pose threat to aviation security. References

CAPSTONE RESEARCH PROJECT Office of inspector general.(2014). Major management and performance challenges facing the Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from www.oig.dhs.gov Painter, W., (2013).Issues in Homeland Security policy for 113 th congress. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from www.online.vitalsource .com Paul, M.,(2012) Homeland Security: Principles and practice of Terrorism Response. Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. retrieved from www.online.vitalsource.com Rollestone, M.,(2012). Aviation security cooperation. Air and Space Power Journal.28(5) :92-117. Robert, T., Fritsch, E.,& Holt, T.(2005).,Digital crime and digital terrorism.(2 nd ed.). Boston, Prentice Hall Silke, A. (2003).Terrorism, victims and society. Wiley & Sons Ltd: England States News Service.(2013). Ten years later-ten challenges facing the Department of Homeland Security. States News Service Language. Retrieved from www.eds.a.ebscohost.com United States Department of Homeland Security(2014). Major management challenges facing homeland security. www.dhs.gov

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