Airport Assessment

RUNNING HEADER: AIRPORT PART 1 1

3

The Potential Threats and Vulnerabilities at the Richmond International Airport

Part 1

CJUC 382

Kenton Shatzer

Liberty University

Introduction

This research paper is geared towards finding out the potential threats and vulnerabilities at the Richmond International Airport which is located in Virginia. The report will also enable us to find out the state of security in the airport and whether its customers, employees and their luggage and cargo are safe.

Security Stakeholders.

The security stakeholders at Richmond International Airport include the security officers at the airport, passengers and all the employees. Everyone has an obligation to take in ensuring that airport is safe for all to travel. The security stakeholder consists of: Security Committee (SC) and Security Working Groups (SWG). They include even the top management of the airlines and they are all involved in the formulation of strategies, actions and major decision making with regards to Richmond International Airport’s security (Cox & Clother, 2004).

Description of Assessment.

Threat Assessment

A threat refers to a plan to impose pain, wound and harm on someone or something. Insecurity at Richmond International Airport could pose a threat to the safety of passengers, employees and that of the surrounding environment. As a result, lives could be lost, people would lose out on jobs and the airport could be no more leading to damages on the economy (Haerens & Zott, 2013). The attacks could be well organized by groups of terrorists and they could range hijacking of the planes, plane suicide bombers, taking passengers hostage and even kidnapping. Some of the possible the threats at the airport would include;

1. Bombs and nuclear materials hidden in the freight cargo. If the bomb could go off then the whole plan and the passengers in it could be in real danger.

2. Stealing from passengers. The passengers would be angered by the theft thus losing faith in Richmond International Airport and consequently reducing the number of customers. The company’s name would be tarnished (Cox & Clother, 2004).

3. Explosive devices hidden in the aircrafts and sometimes in the passenger terminal. If the devices would explode they would lead to massive loss of lives.

4. Hijacking aircrafts. When aircrafts are hijacked, the amount of tension in the environment increases causing fear and panic among passengers. In some cases it leads to killing of passengers by the hijackers if they do not comply with their wishes.

5. Illegal immigrations whereby people who are not cleared by the immigrations office could make travel arrangements and eventually leave the state thus increasing the number of individuals who are in the country illegally.

6. Cyber-attacks carried out by malicious people corrupt the organization’s computer and information system. The whole airport would eventually be at a standstill since they cannot access any information from their computers.

7. Sabotage of equipment used to maintain the aircrafts; this would be disastrous as it would cause damage to the plane and in some cases delay departure time.

8. Poisonous chemicals released in the passenger terminal would lead to poisoning of innocent passengers and some would lose their lives.

9. Attacks on aircrafts while landing or taking off. The attack would cause panic and tension among passengers and also delays in departure and arrivals time (Corporation, 2002).

These threats are classified as follows:

Natural; these are caused by uncontrollable circumstances. None of the threats listed is caused by a natural occurrence.

Accident; these are calamities or misfortunes and they are not intentional. They include:

• Illegal immigrations.

Malicious; these threats are caused intentionally with the aim of causing harm to the person involved. They consist of:

• Bombs and nuclear materials hidden in the freight cargo.

• Stealing from passengers.

• Explosive devices hidden in the aircrafts and sometimes in the passenger terminal.

• Hijacking aircrafts.

• Cyber-attacks.

• Sabotage of equipment used to maintain the aircrafts.

• Poisonous chemicals released in the passenger terminal.

• Attacks on aircrafts while landing or taking off.

Vulnerabilities Assessment.

Vulnerability refers to a person’s failure to endure a hostile environment. Richmond International Airport has many assets. These assets are the most vulnerable. The assets comprise: aircrafts, airline buildings, fuel facilities, passengers, cargo and mail terminals and power facilities. Some of the vulnerabilities identified comprise:

1. Smuggling of weapons in airports. This aids weapon smugglers and encourages existence of illegal weapons into the state. It is dangerous as there would be a gun fight at the airport in the consequently leading to deaths (Cox & Clother, 2004).

2. Smuggling of drugs via airports into the country. Drug traffickers use airports to traffic drugs and bring them into the country. Drugs are risky when they are exposed to people in the country as they would cause addictions especially among young people who the future generation.

3. Exposure of explosives and other explosive devices in the airports. These would cause mass destruction to the airline buildings and eventually damage to the economy since people would be out of jobs if the airline buildings would be destroyed.

These vulnerabilities have major impacts. The impacts can be categorized as:

• Catastrophic. This refers to very destructive situation that is disastrous. The situation is remote or rare.

• Critical. The situation referred to is serious and is likely to be disastrous. The situation is highly likely to occur (Haerens & Zott, 2013).

• Limited. The extent of the situation is at restricted. The situation is possible.

• Minor. The damage is little and cannot harm. The situation is likely to occur.

• Negligible. The extent of damage is manageable for this kind of vulnerability. The situation is unlikely to occur.

References

Corporation, N. L. (2002). Airport Security DGuard. Syosset, N.Y. : National Learning Corp.

Cox, M., & Clother, P. (2004). Whistleblower: Airport Security. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

Haerens, M., & Zott, L. M. (2013). US airport security. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

J, P. J. (2013). Practical Aviation Security, Second Edition: Predicting and Preventing Future Threats (Butterworth-Heinemann Homeland Security) . Chicago: Chicago press.