Wednesday afternoon and Colin Matthews, head of British Airports Authority slams “redundant” security measures at airports. 

I am reasonably optimistic that we can make the passenger experience more comfortable while keeping safety as the principal concern.

That’s nice. But three days later, and it appears that bombs have been flying around the world undetected. Matthews and his supporters are shut up.

Ever since the days of the PLO and Baader-Meinhoff, security services have been trying to keep the bad guys away from the pasengers. You have the feeling that they are often chasing the enemy rather than dictating the terms of the game.

Unfortunately, there are too many people out there who value life very differently than most of us. And that value sinks even further (if possible), when they channel their hatred against a religious or political opponent. Terror – yes, murder – is then a very simple step away.

Are we Israelis too security conscious? Well, I will let the shrinks answer that. What can be stated is that for the past two decades or so, Israel has led the field in security products and services; hardware, software, and intelligence.

This week, Israel is hosting a Homeland Security and Technology Conference. Much of the emphasis will focus on airport security. For example, the container code registration system of HTS is but one tech to figure prominently. “It specializes in image processing and computer vision technologies, mechanisms critical for a wide variety of civilian and security applications,” and is clearly a leader in its field.

But here’s a thought: what if you could stop the 9/11 type people before they get anywhere near a plane? What if this could be done without even talking to them – even eliminating the need for ethnic profiling?

The Economist magazine recently commented on the new skills developed by WeCU, located north of Tel Aviv. Their technology “analyses how people react to images (photographs of known terrorists, say) which may provoke a detectable physiological response in miscreants”.

Now for me, that is really cool. OK – I am biased, as I have know these guys for some years. But WeCu’s solution will probably resolve a lot of the complaints dished up by BAA and other airport managers interested in their higher profits. It will help to move customers along through the terminals without impairing their safety, allowing them to keep their shoes on and retain their precious bottles of water.

Maybe the solution for Matthews et al is to channel some of their resources from publicity and into further technology testing.