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Illinois University computer science and mathematics
professor Sheldon H. Jacobson, along with Adrian
J. Lee at the Central Illinois Technology, explored
the possibility of matching passenger risk with
security assets.
Jacobson's previous work indicates that resources
could be more effectively invested if the lowest-risk
segments, frequent travellers, for instance, could
pass through security with less scrutiny since
they are "known" to the system, the
journal Transportation Science reports.
In the new study, Jacobson and Lee developed
three algorithms dealing with risk uncertainty
in the passenger population, according to an Illinois
statement.
They found that risk-based screening, such as
the Transportation Security Administration's new
pre-check programme, increases the overall expected
security.
"A natural tendency, when limited information
is available about from where the next threat
will come, is to overestimate the overall risk
in the system," Jacobson said.
"This actually makes the system less secure
by over-allocating security resources to those
in the system that are low on the risk scale relative
to others in the system," Jacobson added,
according to an Illinois statement.
Consequently, a larger proportion of high-risk
passengers are designated for too little screening
while a larger proportion of low-risk passengers
are subjected to too much screening.
"One hundred percent checked baggage screening
and full-body scanning of all passengers is the
antithesis of a risk-based system," Jacobson
said.
(IANS)
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