Transport committee  First of all, I disagree: you need fewer people for the sniffer than for the X-ray, because the sniffer is automatic. Second, I don't want to scare you, but what happens if I'm a suicide bomber and I go through this machine and blow myself up? Do you buy a new machine and a new terminal?

Transport committee  First of all, we do not rely on the scanners, per se. The only reason we have scanners at Ben Gurion airport is because of ICAO standards. By the way, we do profile people at the scanner. We do look at the people. We do profile them behaviourally. We don't pay much attention to what they have in their bags unless it is banned by ICAO--guns, knives, and stuff like that.

Transport committee  I totally agree with him. I think the United States acts on panic and not on the system. You don't discriminate against countries just because people came out of those countries. You don't discriminate against cities because people are having crime committed in those cities. I say this is a stupid decision.

Transport committee  I don't have the numbers at the top of my head, but I would say about 50%.

Transport committee  The Ben Gurion system is between 50% and 60% of the cost per passenger...than any other airport in the world. It's less by 40% to 30%.

Transport committee  The system we have can be global. Again, other nations have to adopt the same biometrics, the same cards, and the same system. I mean, look at your Visa card. You can use your Visa card today to take money out in China, but you are a Canadian bank person. So the same system--I'm not saying the Visa system, but it's the same concept--can be made for the trusted traveller.

Transport committee  First of all, let me correct you: there is no personal information on the card. It's only a viable biometric and some other information that is encryption information, because you have been trusted by your government, not by us. When you carry the card, the card is encrypted by a government agency that is a trusted government agency, by ICAO for instance, and no personal information is on the card.

Transport committee  Not yet, because we need a global standard. We can't start with two nations. We need a global standard.

Transport committee  I first want to comment on what Professor Salter just said. There is no intelligence involved in the trusted traveller program in Israel--none whatsoever. We do give trusted travellers to foreigners; we don't know anything about them. But I can tell you this about the 9/11 people: we would have caught them one by one, because they had something to hide, and we find out if you have something to hide.

Transport committee  I can't get into too much detail. I would be happy to send, after this session, a detailed presentation--for your eyes only--that could elaborate on how we do things.

Transport committee  Thank you very much. I will do that.

Transport committee  I will say again: if you want worldwide coordination, you have to go to the ICAO. The International Civil Aviation Organization has done a great job in safety. I think they can do the same in security. But nobody right now needs it--not Canada, not the United States, not anybody else.

Transport committee  No. I gave presentations on the system and the highlights of the system at two aviation security conferences and about five TSA conferences. I think the major problem you are looking at--Professor Salter said it very nicely, the tail that waggles the dog--is that the TSA is actually calling the shots here.

Transport committee  In Israel, as I said before, I will make Professor Salter's worries go away. We have done away with interviews for trusted traveller cards. We now have an automatic system that looks like a passport photo booth in which there is a computer and a mouse, and you sit and answer 10 questions.

Transport committee  I want to make one quick comment on Professor's Salter's viewpoint. My viewpoint is very different. There is no democracy in security. There is no politics in security. Security is a defined way of protecting people. My idea of having a random search at the airport is like Russian roulette.