Airport Perimeter Security Breach Raises Serious Industry Concerns

Two separate incidents of an airport perimeter security breach on Christmas Day have highlighted the importance of effective surveillance – industry-wide.

Each incident happened at different airports – one at Newark International, where a man breached the airport perimeter security fence and remained undetected as he crossed two runways to reach a terminal before being spotted by an airline employee.

The second incident occurred at Phoenix Sky Harbor International later that day. The man scaled a nine-foot high fence and ran onto the tarmac waving his arms at a plane before being captured by airport security.

Although both airports had airport perimeter security surveillance, neither detected signs of the trespassers.

Questions have now been raised, especially as the Transport Security Administration has no mandate in place for the requirement of full-time surveillance of airport perimeter security fences.

This appears not to be an isolated problem. There is an industry-wide call for greater importance to be addressed for airport perimeter security.