Rohee outlines strategy on airports security, monitoring
THE Ministry of Home Affairs and Ogle Airport Incorporated (OAI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Monday, to reduce difficulties relating to airport security and monitoring. Speaking on the occasion, at the Police Officers’ Training Complex, Camp and Young Streets, Georgetown, Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee said many security related incidents occurring in the international and national aviation industry confirm that the issue has become more important than ever in the management of airports.
He said drugs and other criminal threats to national aviation are clearly shared challenges that make security a shared responsibility that requires sharing solutions.
Rohee said: “I would like to commend the Ogle Airport authorities for the cooperation and assistance measures already taken during the preparation of the MOU, as this will help to improve our national security through enhanced information sharing and stronger standards intended to reduce crime in the industry and keep air travel safe.”
He observed that the situation at Ogle Airport now demands a well integrated approach and there is little value in continuing to apply piecemeal solutions to problem areas.
Rohee said physical and information security must be covered by a fully integrated inter-agency approach and they need to find a comprehensive portfolio of systems and services to lessen the prevailing flaws and breaches.
He told those gathered for the ceremony that passengers and baggage are not only sources of threats to commercial aviation security which can also come from the many processes that support an airport and the passengers and aircraft it serves, catering, maintenance, ticketing, baggage handling, air traffic control, retail, food services, vehicle parking and others.
Rohee pointed out that the history of airport security suggests that tightening one component leads determined criminal elements to seek and exploit weaknesses in other components but attempts to plug all the potential holes would so burden and disrupt the already overstressed terminal and air traffic system that the criminals would be handed the victory they seek.
He said such attempts might also have the unintended result of creating a rigid system.  What is required, instead, is a system sufficiently flexible to meet anticipated security threats with timely and appropriate responses and one such should see priority given to timely intelligence on probable criminal elements and threat scenarios continuously disseminated to appropriate authorities.

Smarter
The minister said collaboration and cooperation efforts undertaken through the MOU should be directed toward making the Ogle Airport security systems smarter and more flexible, not necessarily more extensive or all-encompassing.
He said appropriate collection, analysis and dissemination of information to be promoted through the MOU are critical.
According to him, national law enforcement agencies, airport security authorities at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CIJA) and now those at Ogle Airport have come to realise that timely information and intelligence sharing could help to improve national security as well as the handling of security operations within the aviation industry.
He added that the importance of preparedness must be given top precedence as this is a key factor that can help to reduce risk.
“On to now, the internal security system at Ogle Airport is somewhat constrained by its limited ability to access accurate, systematically collected and processed information from national law enforcement agencies and by local security staffing limitations as well. Internal airport security staff, depending on his or her own interest and unique capabilities, may have access to varying sources of information.  However, the data may often be gathered on an ad hoc basis rather than in a coordinated, process driven approach to information sharing and analysis,” Rohee said.
He said, although past efforts have been made, at the governmental levels, to share classified information with Ogle Airport Security, a lack of standardisation and consistency, indeed, the absence of an organised programme has hampered communications.
Rohee said recognising the importance of this type of information and the limitations imposed by the absence of sufficient cooperation and coordination between government and airport security authorities; the MOU signed was devised to reduce those difficulties.
He announced that national law enforcement officials will now meet regularly with Ogle Airport authorities and, at the meetings, principals will discuss and exchange national and local threat information, status of current operations and other matters of mutual interest.
Rohee emphasised that along with information exchanges, member agencies of the MOU will benefit from the expanded network created and avail themselves of the opportunity to be better woven into the tapestry of airport related security.
He said, in such an arrangement, law enforcement agencies would gain Ogle Airport’s insights into local threats and airport history with regard to criminal activity.
The airport, for its part, benefits from law enforcement access to wider sources of information, Rohee posited.
He said possibilities also exist in the area of vulnerability analysis and law enforcement agencies have the bigger picture and should be aware of national and international threat activity, while the Ogle Airport Security recognises its inherent vulnerabilities.
“This situation is ideal for partnership and development of risk identification and mitigation strategies. Further, this is especially vital when an increasing number of law enforcement agencies are involved in aspects of airport and seaport security,” Rohee acknowledged.
He said local and international criminals do not observe traditional divisions of labour and they are, instead, driven by profit.

Tremendous flexibility
“In fact, if you look at how criminal gangs and networks operate, you will see that the most effective ones have tremendous flexibility when it comes to what they smuggle or traffic,” Rohee asserted.
He indicated that using the same routes and methods, they must smuggle narcotics one week, contraband goods and even human “cargo” the next, shifting their tactics in response to demand, profit margins and changes in the enforcement patterns.
The minister said narcotics smuggling, in particular, poses a threat to Guyana, both as a direct result of the horrific effects on our society and as a national security issue in general and our security authorities approach it as a traditional law enforcement mission, one we are, by law, required to counter.
Chairman of OAI, Mr. Michael Correia explained that the project is a public/private partnership being developed by the Private Sector and the Government.
He said it is one of the first investments of this kind in the country and its successes and failures can be instructive for Government to review.
Correia informed: “We, at Ogle Airport Inc., are happy to serve the nation in this respect and, as a sign of our strong commitment, we have foregone all dividends over the last 10 years; capital, as well as equity has been ploughed back into the OAI work programme.”
He also disclosed that there are about 100 aircraft movements daily, which serve about 150,000 interior and cross border travellers on a yearly basis, that is testimony to its continuous development, economically.
Correia admitted that there is a need to reinforce the Private Sector effort and establish a  committee.  “Hence, we welcome the initiative and promised to give full support.”