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Israelis Know: Profiling's Key

(New York Post) Yishai Ha'etzni - * Since 9/11, U.S. officials have struggled with how to protect the American public without infringing on individuals' rights and sensibilities. The touchiest issue of all is "profiling" - using various factors, including race or ethnicity, in security checks. * When New York announced last week that it would begin screening passengers on the city's subway, officials promised loudly and insistently that the checks would be random and racial profiling would not be used. Such a policy avoids discrimination against certain ethnic groups - in effect, inconveniencing, embarrassing, and perhaps even punishing individuals for crimes they did not commit - an important value and a worthy goal. Unfortunately, blanket avoidance of profiling undermines the entire point of checking passengers. * Following a spate of terrorist hijackings and other attacks on civilian aircraft and airports in the 1960s and 70s, Israel developed a security system that utilized sociological profiles of those seeking to harm Israelis. Each passenger is questioned briefly and then airport security personnel use their judgment to identify suspect would-be passengers, who are then questioned at greater length and their bags searched more thoroughly. It is far more effective than random searches, which end up being nearly cosmetic. * The American system's "blindness" cuts off the most important weapon in the war against terrorism: human capability, judgment, and perception. * Trained security personnel know who is most likely to be perpetrating an attack, as well as how to identify suspicious individuals through behavior. Ethnicity is only one factor among many used to identify potential terrorists. * Random searches of grandmothers and congressmen may make Americans feel virtuous, but they don't keep Americans safe. The writer is executive director of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem.
2005-07-27 00:00:00
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