4 The Government's Response
39. The threat of terrorist attacks against airports
and airplanes, as we noted earlier, is very real and ongoing.
We therefore welcome the steps announced in the aftermath of
the attempted attack of 25 December and urge the Government to
speed up the roll-out of body scanners, and, particularly, Explosive
Trace Detection equipment. We are confident that both of these
devices and the other announced measures will form a better, "multi-layered"
security regime. However, while we are confident that the
measures to be implemented will be an improvement on current security
levels, we suggest that the Government could go further in strengthening
the security process.
40. The Home Office, through the Office for Security
and Counter-Terrorism, is responsible for "exercising the
UK's response to the terrorist threat".[59]
Given this, we were surprised that the Department for Transport,
through Transec, remain the "lead department for all transport
security issues", including the introduction of tougher security
measures inside British airports in the aftermath of an attempted
terrorist attack.[60]
In contrast, security measures to be implemented outside airports
(such as watchlists) are the responsibility of the Home Office.
Airport security should not be viewed as something which occurs
purely once a passenger steps into an airport terminal, but should
begin the moment that a ticket is booked. In this context, the
demarcation between transport security ("Transec") based
in the Department for Transport and wider counter-terrorism activity,
centred in the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, based
in the Home Office is unhelpful. We do not understand why transport
security remains institutionally separate from wider counter-terrorism
work and intelligence-gathering, and we cannot see the benefits
of this separation of responsibility. Close collaboration between
Government departments is a poor substitute for centralising policy
and control under one roof. We recommend that Transec becomes
the responsibility of the Home Office under the auspices of the
OSCT.
59 OSCT Website: http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/about-the-directorate/index.html
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