b'SECURITYSPECIAL REPORT DFW 25The airport partnered with industry mainstays such as Smiths Detection, dormakaba and Rohde & Schwarz to bolster its existing system. By addressing insider threats through comprehensive employee screening, DFW reinforces its security framework with an additional layer of protection, comments Joe Kennedy, keyJOE KENNEDYaccount manager with Smiths Detection. In fact, Kennedy considers DFW an industry pioneer for integrating employee security screening. By doing so, it is providing the highest levels of safety and security for its passengers, staff and infrastructure, he notes. Recent improvements to employee screening are also related to DFWs selection for One-Stop Security, an international pilot program designed to expedite the flow of connecting passengers and their baggage by eliminating the duplication PHOTO: DALLAS FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT of security controls/processes at transfer airports. The key to the program is ensuring and verifying that participating airports use equivalent security measures. In the course of qualifying to participate in One-Stop Security, DFW made commitments to the U.S. and foreign governments regarding employee screening. Going High-TechEmployee security screening at DFW now involves three phases: identity verification, body scanning and scanning personal belongings. All three leverage current technology to provide the airport with a highly effective, streamlined process. Weve partnered with some really progressive companies that are allowing us to really lean forward into employee screening, told me that, its been a personal mission toMcLaughlin comments. make it happen, and thats what were doingThe multi-tier system includes dormakaba Argus Air e-gates here at DFW, says McLaughlin. equipped with IDEMIA Vision Pass cameras, which combine facial recognition and badge verification technologies to Exceeding Requirements automatically open screening portals for verified employees. If With that goal in mind, DFW strives to preparethe e-gate and cameras cannot verify an employees face and early for forthcoming security requirements.badge, the gate doesnt open. In April 2023, TSA issued an Airport SecurityCHRIS McLAUGHLIN Once inside the individual portals, DFW employees divest their Program National Amendment (TSA- belongings onto HI-SCAN 6040 DV X-ray inspection units from NA-23-02), which will require U.S. airports to adopt physicalSmiths Detection to detect threats in backpacks, insulated lunch screening procedures for employees with access to secure-sidebags, etc. areas. While no one debates the value of mitigating insider threats, industry organizations and some individual airports have expressedTo further enhance X-ray inspection capabilities, DFW serious concerns about the costs and logistical challenges the newopted to add Autonomous AI Detection, a software system unfunded mandate would entail.from SeeTrue, that uses artificial intelligence to help operators McLaughlin and other DFW leaders had a different take on therecognize potential threat items. Items that are flagged as matter. We wanted to get ahead of those requirements and putsuspicious are then manually inspected by a security officer at a system in place that not just met the expectations of the federalthe other end of the X-ray inspection system. government but actually exceeded those expectations, heAs their belongings ride through the X-ray machine, explains. What were really doing today is ensuring consistencyemployees use a QPS Walk2000 walk-through scanner across the campus, so both our screening workforce, as well asfrom Rohde & Schwarz, with low-frequency millimeter wave the employees coming to work every day, can have a consistenttechnology, to check for metallic and non-metallic threats. experience in their screening process. Workers familiar with the equipment and process typically complete their screening in about 20 seconds, McLaughlin AirportImprovement.comMay | June 2024'