Research Korner: Security Examples

AVIATION SECURITY

In discussions of aviation security there are four main areas considered; airport, cargo, passenger and airlines. Describe the impact of security on facilitation within these areas, using examples.   Introduction             Air transport comprises the sector of the worldwide economy bent towards directing regulation towards security and facilitation in the air transport industry (Raven, 2004). While the industry flourished through the systematic facilitation founded upon high levels of safety standard, automation investments, information and other technological innovations, and the development of consultative mechanisms among customs and other control agencies on the airport, national, regional and international levels; security policies resulted to airport delays, passenger discomfort, dwindling of tourist traffic, dampen high-performance and innovative in origin to destination performances, and unproductive compliance costs. (2003) However, security is inevitable in aviation. Despite the seeming negative impact of security to facilitation, efforts should be made to integrate security into facilitation in order to optimize the benefits to airports, cargo transporters, passengers and airlines derivable from the fusion. On one hand, security refers to the prevention of voluntary actions committed for the purpose of harming people, destroying cargo and aviation facilities and other forms of unlawful interference. On the other hand, facilitation means the reduction in unnecessary regulation and improvement in immigration and customs procedures for the fast and efficient movement of people and cargo across international borders. (2006) Integrating facilitation and integration creates balance in ensure security with a positive impact on airports, passengers, cargo and airlines.    Security & Airport Facilitation             Security affects airport facilitation both positively and negatively. Ordinarily, facilitation encompasses the simplification of the entire passenger and cargo journey including inspection services conducted by immigration and customs, the organization of flight schedules, the coordination of air traffic, and airport accessibility services through surface transportation such as shuttles and taxis (2004). Efficiency in these activities ensures that the airport has accomplished its job of providing the building and organizational infrastructure and channel for the ingress and egress of people, cargo and airplanes from one destination to another based on the context that airport operations support domestic and international trade contributing to the growth of the world economy. With the implementation of security measures, airports usually experience different levels of hitches in airport facilitation. Greater reliance upon surveillance and weapons detection technology in airports involves higher expenditure on the part of the airport resulting to the reallocation of its budget. The need for personnel training updates to accommodate new knowledge and technology to enhance security also requires the reorganization of airport personnel together with added costs. Greater costs affect the facilitation efficiency of airports. Moreover, efficiency in airport security involves certain levels of uniformity among different domestic and international airports involving time and cost of consultations and policy development. However, despite these negative impacts of security on airport facilitation, enhanced security closely linked to facilitation leads to minimal delays in the schedule of airport activities and cost-efficiency. Security & Passengers Facilitation             Passengers experience obvious impacts of security to passenger traffic facilitation. Facilitation with normal levels of security involves the creation of a pleasant air transport experience of passengers through the expeditious checking of baggage and passengers, checking-in of baggage, checking of boarding passes, and the easy retrieval of baggage upon reaching the destination (2006). The accomplishment of these activities ensures airport management, airlines and passengers that no avoidable untoward incidents would occur throughout their flights. With heightened security due to terrorist attacks, passengers experience delays in security checks due to the need to thoroughly check baggage and even requiring the removal of shoes and belts to avoid the entry of objects and substances that could be used to cause harm and destruction to passengers and security. Apart from the delay, heightened security also results to the disruption of passenger movement due to greater restrictions and the placement of more surveillance equipment.             Initially, delays and disruptions comprise acceptable results of security changes. These are necessary sacrifices on the part of passengers in the early stages of the implementation of enhanced security. Subsequently, through the achievement of the balance between security and facilitation through the use of experiential knowledge, best practices and technological innovations, delays and disruptions would be minimized through increased efficiency. Biometrics, improved surveillance and concealed weapons detection technologies, and well-trained personnel provides security without delays and disruptions.   Security & Cargo Transportation Facilitation             Cargo transportation facilitation has been impacted by security negatively and positively. Facilitation of the air transport of cargo involves the implementation of policies expediting the transportation of cargo from the airport warehouse to the airplane that would carry the cargo to its destination and the receipt of cargo from incoming planes and the release of the cargo to forwarders. Economic efficiency remains the most important objective in cargo transport because in international trade, timeliness and accuracy are two key components of cost-efficiency. (ICAO, 2004) With enhanced security, existing levels of efficiency undergo disruptions due to longer and more detailed security checks starting with the entry gate for cargo vehicles. The identities of the driver and the crew are ascertained together with a checking of the cargo documents followed by a thorough check of the cargo. By the time the security check is concluded, the transportation process would have suffered losses due to lost time. Other checks would also be conducted in the warehouse, storage or receiving areas before being loaded to the cargo plane. Apart from this, the lack of standardized cargo security measures in different airports mean duplication since the checks conducted in one airport may not be sufficient in another airport.             However, with the balanced integration of security and facilitation on the airport, national, regional and international levels, the cost of lost time is minimized due to the removal of unnecessary security checks duplication and the speed-up of security checks through high-technology sensors and detection devices able to cover more cargo in less time.       Security & Airlines Facilitation             Airlines facilitation is impacted by security in terms of its revenue generation capabilities. Facilitation of airlines involves the processing of flights coming into and going outside of airports in order to ensure that it is able to comply with flights for passengers with tickets and reservations by ensuring that as airplanes fly out of an airport, other planes come in to take passengers flying at later times. Facilitation also covers the processing of pilots and crew members to ensure that airplane personnel are duly rested prior to the assumption of their tasks in order to ensure safety of passengers and the plane. Passenger traffic processing is another airplane facilitation concern. Flight crew ensures that passengers coming into the plane are boarding the correct plane and joining the correct flight by checking their boarding passes or tickets, seating passengers and applying customer service practices. (2006)             With enhanced security, airlines experience a slow down in passenger traffic due to the greater preference for other modes of transportation such as driving their cars for across state travels or canceling intended flights. Business passengers concerned with the timeliness of flights become weary of the longer security process in airports and tourists also cancel their plans due to the intensity of the airport and air travel atmosphere with enhanced security together with the terrorism scare. However, security is necessary in air transportation. Revenue loss of airlines from heightened security is minimized through advanced technology and skills training creating a secure airport environment without hassle.   Conclusion             Security is neither innately positive nor negative. Its contribution to the aviation industry depends upon the nature and extent of its utilization and integration into facilitation infrastructures and systems. This implies that security both positively and negatively impact facilitation. It is only through the achievement of balanced integration between security and facilitation that efficiencies are derived.             Negative impacts of security to the facilitation of airports, cargo, passengers and airlines includes loss of efficiencies from airport process, cargo transportation, passenger processing and airline operation delays and disruptions involving the corresponding financial losses together with the thinning of air travel traffic particularly in the case of passengers opting to take alternative modes of transportation to avoid the delays and disruptions in airports. Positive impacts of enhanced security includes efficiency gains in the form of cost-effective high-technology surveillance and detection gadgets and trained security personnel creating an air transportation environment that provides ease and comfort to passengers and minimizes delays and disruptions for airports, cargo transporters and airlines.                Through the balanced integration of security and facilitation, the incompatibilities between these concepts brought about by the disruption of security of the efficiency operations of facilitation are targeted. Positive impact of security to facilitation in enhanced through the use of expedient gadgets and techniques to ensure high levels of security with facilitation efficiency.

AVIATION SECURITY

In discussions of aviation security there are four main areas considered; airport, cargo, passenger and airlines. Describe the impact of ...

Application of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) To Improve Passenger and Airport Security

Application of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) To Improve Passenger and Airport Security     Introduction             The imposition of airport security is founded upon Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. To fulfill this right the fundamental purpose of airport security is to keep dangerous objects such as knives, guns, bombs and dangerous chemicals from being placed on board the plane especially for long flights since an evacuation would be impossible or difficult to accomplish to avert danger and harm to the passengers.               Airport security has increased in importance due to the increasing human and cargo traffic that pass through the airport system increasing the risks for passengers, particularly since these risks have been realized in several instances already from hijacking to bomb explosions. Due to heightened risks airports are also enhancing their security measures to meet new threats to the safety of passengers. The paper will discuss existing airport security, determine whether Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) is an applicable system, and recommend airport design that would improve airport security. Implementation of Passenger Security             Securing passenger security is implemented through airport and airside security measures. Airport security pertains to the security measures applied in the public areas such as the departure and arrival locations including the passenger checking or screening area while airside security refers to the security strategies used in areas not open to the public such as the airfield and facilities exclusively for cargo. Ensuring security in these areas involves the development and implementation of security standards covering the various areas of operations and standard operating procedures for every conceivable security threat that could happen during airport operations. (2003)                 In relation to airport security all airports conduct security measures. Passenger and baggage screening comprise the bulk of security measures in areas open to the public. The identity of passengers is checked by asking them to provide their passports so that their identity can be checked with existing crime and security database to determine possible security risks. Apart from this metal detectors and bomb detection devices are used to check the baggage of passengers to ensure that no harmful or potentially harmful objects are brought inside the aircraft. As an added precaution the security division of the airport constantly monitors human traffic inside the airport through cameras and visual observation to determine any suspicious action. ( 2003)             In the case of airside security, identification cards together with driving and vehicle permits serve as the basic security check. In addition, rules on speed limit, authorized driving routes, safe activities near aircrafts, cargo handling, safety sign compliance, and aircraft refueling and check-up procedures are strictly implemented. ( 2003)             Moreover, apart from the precautionary airport security activities that every airport has to implement diligently, airports also provide their personnel information and training on the standard operating procedures for different threats and risks that may occur in the airport. This is an important aspect of passenger security because the entirety of airport personnel is expected to be adept at threat recognition, risk assessment, and quick decision-making to allay recognized threats. In support of the risk management strategies of airports, all airports have established communication links between the different operating divisions of the airport in order to facilitate immediate information sharing in cases of risky situations and coordinate the action of the different working units in order to efficiently manage the risk or threat. ( 2003) Role of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design             Ensuring passenger security involves different aspects of security management. Apart from the standards and rules governing the operations of the airport and the briefing and training of airport personnel, the management of the airport environment is another important security management area, with environment referring to the aggregate of the physical space comprising the airport hosting passenger and cargo traffic.             Due to the need to manage the airport environment in order to enhance passenger security, crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) may be applied to the airport setting. Three CPTED approaches have emerged since the introduction of the concept in the late 1960s. First is the approach advocating the reduction of opportunities for crime introduced by  (1971) as a precautionary measure against crime or delinquency by manipulating a created environment. Another approach that emerged is defensible space (1972) that correlates the high crime rate with the design of environments that allow opportunities for crime prevention. As a solution, three concepts should be incorporated into environmental design, which are: territoriality, natural surveillance as well as image and milieu. The third approach is situational crime prevention that expanded the crime prevention theory to every conceivable environment including airports ( 1976; 1980;  1981).             Although the theory was originally applied in urban community settings such as high-rise buildings, elevators, fire escapes and corridors by redesigning these spaces in order to ensure that there is constant public surveillance to deter criminal acts the concept also applies to the airport setting, which is a created environment. Reducing opportunities for risky situations has also increased in importance since prevention is the preferred system rather than the actual resolution of threats.             With regard to the first approach, reducing opportunities for security breaches involves the application of identity checks for all passengers going inside the airport together with personal and baggage screening to detect any harmful objects brought inside the airport. Through the implementation of security measures, the airport becomes a safe environment because the opportunities for the commission of crimes using harmful objects and substances are reduced.             In relation to the second approach, creating a defensible environment involves designing the airport environment in such a manner that it prevents the commission of crime. Applying territoriality in airports involves the delineation of enclosed and secure space for different people such as the designation of areas accessible and not accessible to the public, waiting areas and security checks so that people are able to mark their personal spaces. Implementing surveillance in airports includes observation of activities in the airport as well as visibility of security personnel that inculcates the notion of a safe environment for people. Image and milieu applies to the airport environment when the airport has built a reputation for providing a secure environment for its passengers by giving passengers an actual secure airport experience.             Regarding the third approach, crime prevention depending on the particular situational context covers the determination of the particular crime opportunity prevention methods unique to the airport setting such as requiring travel documents, physical searches, metal detector tests, baggage x-ray and other necessary security measures.             Although, CPTED has been criticized as an insufficient alternative to socio-economic solutions and as encouraging the mere displacement of crime to other areas, it is important to note that this concept does not claim to provide a cure-all solution to crime or security threats but only provide a partial solution to alleviate security risks while socio-economic solutions remain elusive. Future Developments in Airport Design that will Improve Security             Security breaches in airports are largely attributed to human error so that future developments in airport security are directed towards technological innovations that are non-invasive in application that augments the limitations of human perception. Future airport security design would involve strategically placed intelligent technological gadgets that would detect a wide array of harmful and possibly threatening things that humans may not be able to easily detect. Some of the technological security equipment being considered for use in airports in the near future is x-ray machines for people that would detect objects which may look unsuspicious to the normal visions, biometric identification systems that check identity through the unique features of individuals, computer systems able to automatically detect suspicious activity as this is captured on video, and thermal imaging to detect chemical substances which are not components of the human body. These technological innovations would minimize opportunities for threatening situations and create a secure environment for passengers. (2003) Conclusion             Airport security is evolving due to the need to address the challenges   that have been thrown at the existing security strategies of many airports proving that there is always room for improvement amidst incessant security measures. Due to the need for constant security improvement in airports, the crime prevention through environmental design has re-emerged as a viable but partial solution to security threats. The idea is to develop security measures covering both the physical and social airport environment that would minimize opportunities for the actualization of security threats. The CPTED concept in its contemporary usage is reflected in the technological advancements in identity check and harmful object detection that are effective but non-invasive or constricting.

Application of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) To Improve Passenger and Airport Security

Application of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) To Improve Passenger and Airport Security Introduction ...

Critically evaluate the claim the security responses to '9/11' are excessive and represent a serious challenge to our PDP rights

SECURITY RESPONSES TO 9/11: CHALLENGE TO PRIVACY DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS   Introduction   Subsequent to the terrorist attacks on September 11, numerous countries have undertaken several courses of action that would allow them to avert the incident to take place again. A forerunner in this endeavor is the United States which has been the main pugilist against the propagation of terrorism. However, there is the issue in this manner whether the protection of the public, or its security, has in some ways meddled with its rights to privacy. This study will analyze the situation of both the United States and the European Union being the two most influential entities in the current world. for clarity and coherence, the discussions is going to be divided into several parts.     Security Responses after 9/11               Legislations Enacted   The USA-PATRIOT Act is probably the most renowned part of legislation in the world. Entitled, 'Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001,' it is the upshot of an outbreak of governmental schemes in return to the seizing and attacks on significant areas in the United States. In due course several bills were pooled collectively together with the Bush Administration's 'Anti-Terrorism Act', the Lower House's bill the PATRIOT Act, and the Upper House's bill the USA Act, to produce the USA-PATRIOT Act. (2004)   The Patriot Act is a huge law with a lot of elements. It is more than 300-pages in length and makes correction on more than fifteen different decrees. It starts by reproving prejudice in opposition to Arab and Muslim Americans, and then progresses promptly. It augmented financial support for numerous agencies and departments. (2004) Improved surveillance authority was established, in addition to actions on fighting money laundering and terrorism funding, border management instruments and schemes, detention authority in opposition to alleged terrorists, prerequisites for global biometric identity papers, the compilation of DNA from terrorists and other violent offenders, admission of educational records, assistance to casualties of terrorism, improved data-distribution for critical infrastructure security, alterations to intelligence acquisition on foreigners, and a current explanation of terrorism and new connected offenses. (2004)   The surveillance and data-distribution elements of the bill are plentiful and frequently comprehensive. (2004) The most controversial features of the bill that are pertinent to this report are the development of communications surveillance authority as well as extensive demands for interception of communications and admission to communications traffic information; an amplified employment of subpoenas and gag orders averting the discovery of the information that a subpoena was given; admission to passenger travel information; the formation of biometric identifications; and the institution of an entry-and-exit border scheme    On the other hand, the European policy is ever more going on in closed institutions with diminutive discussion. Policies of important concern for the freedom of movement and freedom of expression are being carried out with modest talks. The Hague Programme is perceived as having a drive of its own. This means that what was determined by the Council is striding onwards towards legislation. (2005) The parliament and other institutions are advised that they may not alter the course of the policies settled and protected into the Hague Programme. At the same time as fingerprints were integrated into passports devoid of the permission of Parliament, so it seems that communications traffic data will possibly be held on to with no sufficient inspection of Parliament. Even at what time when the EU is requested to make a decision involving conflicting laws, as it was in the instance of admission to passenger records, it decided to concur to the U.S. commands in an attempt to authorize the formation of a policy of access to that similar information by Member States.   Similarly, when European regimes endorse a policy for the employment to battle terror, it hardly ever limits it to counter-terrorism. Passenger information, profiling, biometrics compilation and admission to communications data all begin with anti-terror decrees but are characteristically employed for all legal reasons. (2005) What Europe endures most significantly from is that the conduct of the European Union is short of public inspection. Media exposure of EU concerns is inadequate; non-governmental organizations have the propensity to be national purely and are lacking in access to EU institutions; and the European Parliament is infrequently provided the needed amount of power to settle on these policies.               Airline Security   Personal data on airline customers was employed in violation of federal privacy statutes for the duration of testing of the administration's Secure Flight Airline Safety Program in the later part of 2004. ( 2006) The subject came up in the government's experimenting of the Secure Flight agenda, which was instituted to battle aircraft terrorism by putting the names and information about local airline commuters side by side with the information on recognized or alleged terrorists. The agenda is being checked by the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which supervises antiterrorism endeavors on the country's transportation structures. The Secure Flight agenda is the government's subsequent shot at a preflight monitoring program for local airlines subsequent to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A previous scheme, labeled Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, was instituted in 2003 then discarded in 2004 on account of privacy issues. ( 2002)               Immigration   In an attempt to administer the current terrorist risk that immigration supposedly characterized, radical amendments in immigration procedures commenced in the few short months instantly subsequent the attack. There was no official law proscribing the immigration from nations alleged of being hotbeds for terrorists, but other significant restraints on immigration, and particularly, immigrants previously within the United States, were approved as an element of other decrees. As a division of the "Patriot Act" ratified in the House of Representatives in October of 2001, Congress permitted the long-term imprisonment of non-citizens whom the attorney general specified as terrorist risk. ( 2001) Akin to previous gatekeeping activities, the inner, administrative judgments of the Office of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and currently of the Department of Homeland Security were similarly considerably changed to follow, manage, and capture immigrants assumed of terrorist action or those considered a possibly threat to national security Immigration officers silently changed their individual administrative rules and processes to provide themselves better control above all foreigners. Throughout November and December of 2001, the United States government agents aimed at two hundred college campuses nationally to gather data on Middle Eastern students. (2001) In November the Justice Department extended the authority of its officers to arrest foreigners even following a federal immigration judge had commanded their release for lack of proof. The judicial order could be reserved if the immigration service deemed that a foreigner were a risk to the public or a flight risk. At the same time as immigration attorneys contended that the new law dispossessed the captives of the basic right of bond trials, advocates maintained that the alteration was essential in the new war in opposition to terrorism. Nevertheless others indicated that the agency seemed to be deliberately employing the new political environment to deal with old issues in relation to the authority of immigration courts. (2001)   In 2002, the Justice Department put into practice SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System), which needs each and every one international students and exchange visitors to enlist with the federal government their basic information along with their educational purpose and keep that data recurrently posted. Not counting SEVIS, the federal government instituted a separate list to yearly fingerprint, take pictures of, and interrogate men from twenty-four typically Muslim states. (2001)   On the other hand, an important task of the EU is to guarantee the free flow of individuals across borders. The EU therefore functions a part in the assurances and processes instituted to administer and supervise border traffic. A noteworthy piece of this movement started with the Schengen Agreement in 1985, and has consequently carried on with the organization of new practices and schemes. (2003)  The Schengen Information System (SIS) started in 1995 and was perceived as payment tools for the elimination of internal borders connecting France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. (2003) It allows Member States to acquire data with regards to specific categories of individuals and property. Member States add by appending information on individuals wanted for seize, individuals to be positioned under surveillance or exposed to particular checks; persons to be denied entry at external borders; and missing or stolen articles.   In reply to the terrorist attacks in the U.S. in 2001, the EU choose to put into practice a Visa Information System (VIS). (2004) VIS would cleave to personal data on each visa candidate to an EU member state together with their nationality at birth, reasons for denial, and connections to other requests. It will be an essential catalog that is balanced by national systems that jointly connect border checkpoints of every state. It is intended to administer biometric information. The Article 29 Working Party, a group of privacy watchdogs from the entire EU member nations have presented numerous fears with regards to the projected actions contained by VIS, particularly the compilation of fingerprint information. (2004) The Working Party is worried that the fingerprints could be employed for other functions, and could similarly bring about stolen identities. By itself the Working Party advocates that biometric information should not be kept in the central database except on occasions when it is completely essential. Rather the Working Party suggests that the biometrics be held in reserve simply on a chip on the visa itself. The Working party was mainly worried with the centralization of biometrics for the reason that the admission to the VIS was informal and extensive. Ever since the London bombings in 2005 the impetus has developed for extra databases and trailing devices. ( 2005) The UK administration of the EU has been demanding for an expansion of the admission rights to VIS, authorizing law enforcement agencies all over the EU to have a right to use all the information held there.               Identification Cards and Biometrics   Gathering travel patterns and border activities needs the compilation of more data concerning the persons and their classifying marks, counting information on Americans. The Patriot Act entailed that the President confirm a biometric technology set for employment in recognizing foreigners looking for admittance into the U.S.. The timetable for its execution was sped up by another law, once more the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act 2002. That rule provided an obligation upon other states to put into operation a biometric passport. Following two years, the ICAO was finally capable of instituting a biometric standard: face detection. Consequently, all upcoming ICAO-acquiescent passports have to include a digital photograph. Nonetheless the ICAO similarly allowed states to take account of other biometrics together with fingerprints and iris-scans. (2006)   The compilation of biometrics in the EU is not being narrowed to visa-hopefuls and other aliens nonetheless. In its understanding of the ICAO standard on safe passports, the European Council came to a decision in 2003 to build up a common technique on biometric identifiers for papers for third country residents, European Union residents' passports and EU information schemes (VIS and SIS II). (2004) In February 2004 the European Commission indicated its intent to follow through by obliging all EU travel papers to take account of the biometric of a facial figure, and therefore to follow the US imperative. Member States were allowed to go more by employing fingerprints additionally. Hitherto, EU documentation indicates to the enclosure of merely a couple of fingerprints on a microchip on the passport confined with a security device. (2004) This denotes that the information on the chip be connected with the fingerprint images can solely be read by certified individuals. The patterns of these security instruments stay indistinct and are not conversed openly.               Development in Surveillance Substantial surveillance is acquired by the bureaucratic makeup that most people come across in their everyday lives as they obtain a driver's license, extract money from banks, or attend school. Each of these ordinary activities creates a record which shapes an element of the "data double;" the electronic, visual or documentary outline of oneself that one abandon in their encounters with contemporary institutions. Single-handedly, or shared with other types of data by means of data matching methods, such data can be very enlightening (Gandy, 1993).  (2000) have presented the notion of a "surveillant assemblage" as a way to add up of this multiplying, decentralized and inept system of visibility. Their examination is chiefly relevant to how surveillance has improved ever since September 11th. The idea of an assemblage emphasizes the astounding collection of agencies and institutions which now control surveillance schemes. The idea of a surveillant assemblage stands disputed to a more customary issues concerning surveillance, as demonstrated by  (1949) concept of "Big Brother," which gives emphasis on the central, state-determined characteristics of surveillance. The surveillant assemblage is not a solitary physical unit or arrangement, but the whole of the surveillance capability that can be educated on a place or populace. By itself, it is not as much of a "thing" than it is a potentiality that can be realized to changeable levels anchored on what and how observational systems are shared and united. Among the more contentious of these attempts is the U.S. National Security Agency's ECHELON scheme which intends to seize all communications. (2001) Instead of trying to examine all of these types of communications, the ECHELON system handles this data by means of huge computers which look for key terms or phrases, by this means acquiring specific individuals and messages for individual notice. A less complicated case of such data shortcuts entails airline passenger profiling configurations, like the international CAPPS (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System). Such schemes highlight doubtful travelers by automatically examining numerous of data relating to where they bought their ticket, the manner in which they bought it, their outfits, nationality, luggage, travel account, and even what they bought at the airport commissary (2002).   Conclusion   The study has presented the existing conditions in both the United States and the European Union regarding the state of their privacy rights. One could see that it is not sufficient to assert privacy as a legitimate entitlement, as necessary to a democratic system, and to put it down at that anticipation that no further attacks will take place. No legal right is supreme. With no institutional reinforcement these rights are more or less without sense. Unless there are organizations that will challenge policy, regardless on whether they are the mass media, civil organisations, opposition parties, then legal rights are helpless without the executive. However the consequence is especially biting than simply instituting appalling policy. Society's outlooks therefore turn out to be the indicator of privacy as an essential entitlement. What is fair and sensible is uncertain. There was a moment when people deemed that national databases were problematical, that mass monitoring of communications was in the incorrect for the reason that surveillance has need of individual doubt. However it is seen currently that these systems and practices scattering, as in the case of the EU and the US.

Critically evaluate the claim the security responses to '9/11' are excessive and represent a serious challenge to our PDP rights

SECURITY RESPONSES TO 9/11: CHALLENGE TO PRIVACY DATA PROTECTION RIGHTS Introduction Subsequent to the terrorist attacks on Se...

Securitization in Financial Markets

Securitization In the last decade, securitization has been one of the most significant innovations made by the financial markets. In the United Kingdom, the development of securitization has occurred since the mid 1980s. As far as secondary securitizations in the modern form are concerned, the United States of America has led all the way; its market is the most matured. Although the United Kingdom has been the most developed of the European markets, secondary securitization in Europe is still very much in its infancy. However, in the United Kingdom, the sale of receivables has existed in some form for a very long time indeed (Oditah 1996). What securitization has done is to reinvent the wheel by wrapping the sale of financial and trade receivables around marketable securities. Assignment, which provided the basic framework within which sale of receivables was consummated from the17th century onward, still provides the basic structure for vesting the securitized assets in the special or multi purpose vehicle which modern secondary securitizations utilize. Securitization is a buzz word lacking any technical meaning. It is a market usage which can mean different things to different people (Oditah 1996).   Three usages may be distinguished: first, securitization is used to describe the transmutation of illiquid assets such as mortgages, into tradable securities. This involves the pooling, unbundling, repackaging and refinancing of existing income producing financial assets into securities that can be sold to investors in the capital markets. Mortgage securitization is the best example of this. Secondly, securitization is often used to describe any sale of financial assets, whether or not involving the creation of securities (Ben-Ami 2001). Even where existing participations are notated by the filling and filing of the prescribed forms with the agent bank, the prescribed form itself is not a security, although often referred to as a transferable loan certificate. Thirdly, securitization is sometimes used to describe the process of issuing tradable debts, whether or not the traded securities are backed by some underlying receivables. Securitization in all three senses raises a variety of issues. Some relate to the marketing of the securities and depend upon the type, place and manner of issue and marketing of the securities; some relate to the assign ability of the underlying receivables and the requirements of different national laws as to the creation and perfection of the sale of receivables and the security interest, if any, which secures the marketable securities; some relate to credit, liquidity, reinvestment and insolvency risks; some concern the accounting treatment which the vendor or originator of the pool of  receivables requires; tax considerations play a dominant role as do capital adequacy and other regulatory constraints (Ben-Ami 2001).   Securitization has threatened the role of depository institutions in their traditional financial intermediation. If large corporations continue to by-pass depository institutions in favor of capital market intermediated credit, securitization, which enables this to happen by channeling debt finance directly between borrowers and lenders, would reduce the role of traditional intermediation in corporate finance and enable large corporations who have access to the capital markets to avoid the costs associated with traditional intermediation. At the same time, it has led merchant and investment banks into another form of financial intermediation, namely capital market-based intermediation. Instead of earning a margin or spread through traditional lending and intermediation, the emphasis has shifted to non-interest income from services associated with arranging, placing of debt securities with investors, underwriting the issues and trading in the securities (Osano & Tachibanaki 2001). Underwriting, broking and placing are all forms of market-based intermediation which are income producing for the depository institutions. As with traditional intermediation, lenders and borrowers are brought together through placing and underwriting. Underwriting provides liquidity in the capital markets because the underwriter, for a fee or spread dependent upon uncertain market conditions, absorbs the uncertainty about the market demand for the borrower's debt securities. These off-balance sheet activities are now significant sources of funds for banks without tying up bank capital. Securitization, by dis intermediating depository institutions from their traditional role of providers of intermediated credit, has, in relation to large corporations partially crowded them out of the corporate financing sphere (Osano & Tachibanaki 2001). Securitization makes use of special purpose entities to reduce any risk of bankruptcy for a firm and make sure that lenders would offer lower interest rates. Securitization helps in minimizing the mismatch between an asset and liability and it helps to decrease capital requirements. On the other hand securitization can create additional costs. It also has limitations that depend on the size of the business.   Asset backed securities The return on an asset-backed security obviously depends on its price and its coupon, both of which are related to the risk of the underlying assets. In situations where a security's yield is greater than that of the underlying loan, securitization offers no benefits. Several options are available to change risk/return relationship associated with securitized assets. In the case of loan-backed bonds, for example, over collateralization will reduce risk as well as return (Smith & Walter 1997). There is also the possibility of insuring the securities themselves, in which case it is the insurer who bears the default risk: the insurer will have to evaluate the portfolio, and will charge a premium commensurate with that evaluation. This indicates the importance of the ability to evaluate the pool of loans that underlies asset-backed securities. The securitization process is clearly dependent on rating agencies' and investors' abilities to understand the loans. Highly complex loan portfolios or loans that have complex credit characteristics are unlikely to be well suited to securitization. The success of securitization will also depend on the payment patterns and maturities (Smith & Walter 1997).   Loans with poorly defined payment patterns and with maturities of less than two years are less attractive candidates for securitization, because the costs of securitization are more difficult to recoup over a short period and investors are not as attracted by short maturities, although credit card-backed securities are a notable exception. The costs of securitization consist of administrative costs primarily investment banking fees and the costs associated with providing information to investors and rating agencies. The benefits from securitization include protection from interest-rate risk, increased liquidity for original lenders and for investors, a more efficient transfer of resources from surplus to deficit financial sectors, and new and less expensive sources of capital for the original lenders (Liaw 1999). Securitization also serves to liquefy a bank's balance sheet and to provide additional funding sources. Securitization is particularly common in the case of smaller loans, which would be difficult to sell individually. Investors can achieve higher levels of diversification because, with the same nominal exposure, a bank in fact takes the credit. All asset-backed securities share most of the following characteristics: they are off balance sheet for the asset provider, the assets physically are deposited into a trust supervised by an independent trustee, the pool of assets is somewhat greater than the ace value of the security or a condition called over collateralization, and the value of the assets in the pool is marked to market periodically. If the value of the assets in the pool falls below a minimum, the provider must contribute additional assets to meet the required standard (Liaw 1999).    Many asset-backed securities have credit enhancement features, such as a guarantee of a bank or an insurance policy with one mortgage insurance groups. As a result of all of these features, the security is usually able to receive AAA or AA bond ratings. The securities are sold in the market, however, at a premium over the corresponding rate for comparably rated finance company securities. The securities are relatively safe, but they are also complex and subject to thin secondary market trading. The simplest forms of investment companies are asset-backed securities, which are claims on a share of a group of assets passively held by a closed-end pool. The assets in the pool are initially chosen from a group of fairly homogenous assets, and the asset holdings are fixed over the life of the pool (Murphy 2000). All interest and principal payments from the assets in the pool are passed through to the investment company shareholders as they are made and the pool's life terminates with the final principal payment on the pool's assets. Asset-backed securities are often therefore called pass-through securities. Asset-backed securities usually have some form of credit guarantee from the issuer or seller of the pool. These credit enhancements frequently take the form of a blanket guarantee of full payment of principal on any asset in the pool that defaults on a payment. However, some credit enhancements only guarantee up to a certain amount of the pool's assets in which case losses from defaults over that amount would have to be borne by the pool's shareholders. In all cases, the value of such guarantees is only as good as the credit quality of the guarantor (Murphy 2000). Asset Backed security is a type of security which has value and income payments. Such payments are usually derived from and collateralized by pool of assets. Asset Backed security ensures that assets deemed as not tradable can be combined and changed into instruments that may be sold in the capital markets. By selling such instruments a company will be able to facilitate the marketing of its bonds to investors who usually has changing investing time horizons and risk appetites.   The recent issue of CDO and MBS bonds Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) or mortgage pass-through securities have developed into a tremendous market in the 1980s. Investors in mortgage pass-through include institutional investors such as commercial banks, insurance companies, mutual funds, and pension funds as well as individuals. The investor in a pass-through security receives a portion of the interest and principal payments of the mortgagors. The originator or a servicing institution collects the payments from the mortgagors and passes them through to the security holders. The guarantee covers the investor for the risk of default by mortgagors in the pool. The agencies involved in mortgage backed securities do not guarantee the return on investment and do not guarantee the maturity date of the security (Nowak 1993). As with any fixed income security, when market interest rates raise, the value of a mortgage pass-through security falls, and as market rates fall, the value of a mortgage pass-through rises. Mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other derivative securities are loans arranged by bankers that are sold and repackaged as securities. These securities, which are available to both institutional buyers and to the public, are also sensitive to changes in interest rates (Nowak 1993).    Pass-through are created when holders of mortgages form a pool and sell shares of participation certificates in the pool. The cash flows earned by investors in pass-through securities are based on principal and interest payments on the underlying mortgages. MBSs also can be transformed into new assets through additional securitizations or the use of mortgage derivatives. Collateralized debt obligations are termed secured debt. If the collateral is real estate, the claim is called a mortgage (Squires 2004). A claim on other collateral is typically referred to as a lien. More than one collateral claim may exist on the same asset, but typically the claims are rank ordered, with the first claim having a prior claim over a second collateral claim, which in turn represents a prior claim on the asset over all other claims. For instance, a holder of a first mortgage on real estate collateral has a prior claim on the real estate over that of a second mortgage, while the holder of the second mortgage has a prior claim on the asset over all other claims. Some debt is collateralized by assets that are legally owned by a special third-party trustee. This ownership structure provides the creditors with better control of the assets if their claim is not paid off (Squires 2004). The issues of CDOs and mortgage-backed securities contributed and affected subprime mortgage bonds which are one of the reasons for the international crisis. As the mortgages in CDO's decline in value, company's holding CDOs face a problem in assigning a certain price to their holdings. Many companies just try to sell their CDO assets at par to avoid the onset of other problems. The issues of CDO and MBS bond require company to carefully plan their purchase or sale of assets. Through specialized project finance added with proper use of asset backed securities a company would survive the bond issues and the international financial crisis. The specialized project finance would help in adjusting to the changes brought by the bond issues. The asset backed securities would help in formulating appropriate techniques to counter the issues.   References Ben-Ami, D 2001, Cowardly capitalism: The myth of the global financial casino, John Wiley & Sons, New York.   Liaw, TK 1999, The business of investment banking, Wiley & Sons, New York.   Murphy, A 2000, Scientific investment analysis, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.   Nowak, LS 1993, Monetary policy and investment opportunities, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.   Oditah, F (eds.) 1996, The future for the global securities market: Legal and regulatory aspects, Clarendon Press, Oxford.   Osano, H & Tachibanaki, T (eds.) 2001, Banking, capital markets and corporate governance, Palgrave, New York.   Smith, RC & Walter, I 1997, Global banking, Oxford University Press, New York.   Squires, GD (ed.) 2004, Why the poor pay more: How to stop predatory lending, Praeger, Westport, CT.

Securitization in Financial Markets

Securitization In the last decade, securitization has been one of the most significant innovations made by the financial markets. In the...

Security Threats to the Caribbean Region

Security Threats to the Caribbean Region   The Caribbean states have significant security problems that pose threats to the future political stability and fragile economies of the states in the region in 2011. Preventive action is imperative, but these states need significant inputs from the U.S. and other partner countries in order to successfully address these security threats. The English- speaking Caribbean countries are grounded in democracy and the rule of law but with institutions lacking in resources.[1]   The varying security problems in these states have the common issue of inadequate border management and control in the areas of customs administration, port facilities and maritime border control. The region’s vulnerability has been worsened by the recent global recession which has made the cost of placing security-related infrastructure and technology even more prohibitive.[2] Caribbean security has military, political and economic dimensions and faces both internal and external threats.[3]   The core traditional concerns in the region are territorial disputes and hemispheric  geopolitics such as in the disputes between Venezuela and Guyana, and Guatemala  and Belize.[4]   The Caribbean region also serves as a transshipment point for drugs from South  America to the U.S., African and European markets because of its strategic location  and multiple commercial and non-commercial air/maritime movement.[5] The security threat posed by illegal drug production, abuse and trafficking is its being the cause of marked increases in health and family problems, crime, systemic corruption and arms trafficking, its erosion of good governance and the social fabric and  its infringement on the sovereignty of and goodwill amongst countries. There is a direct  link between illegal drug use and violent and sex-related crimes, domestic violence and  child abuse and money laundering.[6]   The security threat in the Caribbean region arising from crimes like murder, theft and  robbery, fraud and assault are the ones likely to be associated with illegal drug use. Crime adversely affects social discourse, the business climate and orderly government functions. Criminal activity in some countries like Jamaica is complicated by nationals  who were convicted elsewhere and later deported to their homeland.[7]   Terrorism threatens the security of the Caribbean region by slowing down its tourism  industry, which is a major foreign exchange earner and employer in the region, and  also its aviation, financial services and agricultural sectors.[8]   Economic development and social stability in the Caribbean region is also threatened by gang violence, which also undermines foreign investment and may encourage illegal immigration and trafficking in drugs, arms and persons.[9]   The HIV/AIDS pandemic poses a great threat to the socio-economic development of the Caribbean region and can undermine its social fabric because infection rates here are among the highest in the world. HIV/AIDS puts a heavy strain on health care systems and the labor force, and will also impact mortality in the coming decades.[10]   The Caribbean region also faces several environmental threats to its security. Invasive species such as weeds, pests and diseases that cause harm to crops and livestock directly impact agricultural systems and the broader socio-economic picture. Such species threaten indigenous biodiversity by destroying natural and semi-natural habitats and ecosystems.[11] Pollution from cruise ships, tankers and other vessels and the increasing volume of household and industrial wastes contaminate the land and coastal waters of low-lying  countries and pose a threat to people’s health and the environment.[12] Climate change by way of increasingly intense heat in the dry season or excessive and out of season rainfall may also dampen the arrival of tourists in the region.[13] 	 	 		 		 		 		 		[1] Curtis A. Ward, “Regional 		Threats: Security Capacity Imperatives in the Caribbean”, JQI, 		issue 58 		3rd quarter 		2010, <http://www.ndu.edu/press/lib/images/jfq-58/JFQ58_26-31_Ward.pdf> 		 		[accessed 4 May 2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[2] ibid 	 		 		 		 		 		[3] Ivelaw L. Griffith, “Chapter 3. 		Security in the Caribbean: State Sovereignty or Public Order”, 		Peoples, States, and Fear, ed. by Buzan, p.378 pdf, <http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Pubsecurity/ch3.pdf> 		[accessed 4 May 2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[4] ibid 	 		 		 		 		 		[5] “Source Countries and Drug 		Transit Zones: The Caribbean”, Office of National Drug Control Policy, 		 		<http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/international/caribbean.html>  		[accessed 4 May 2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[6] Ivelaw L. Griffith 	 		 		 		 		 		[7] ibid 	 		 		 		 		 		[8] ibid 	 		 		 		 		 		[9] John T. Fishel & Mary Grizzard, 		“Countering Ideological Support to Terrorism in the Circum-Caribbean”, 		pdf, September 2005,  <http://www.comw.org/tct/fulltext/0509fishel.pdf 		>  [accessed 4 May 2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[10] Odeen Ishmael, “Approaches on 		Security in the Caribbean Region”, 29 October 2002, 		 		<http://www.guyana.org/Speeches/ishmael_102902.htm>  [accessed 4 May 		2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[11] Moises Kairo et al, “Invasive 		Species Threats in the Caribbean Region: Report to the Nature 		Conservancy”, pdf, <http://www.issg.org/database/species/reference_files/Kairo%20et%20al,%202003.pdf> 		[accessed 5 May 2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[12] GreenBiz Staff, “Ship 		Pollution is Key Environmental Threat to Caribbean”, GreenBiz.com, 		10 January 2005, <http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2005/01/10/ship-pollution-key-environmental-threat-caribbean> 		[accessed 5 May 2011] 	 		 		 		 		 		[13] Linda Hutchinson-Jafar, 		“Caribbean Islands Fear Climate Change Threat to Tourism”, AlertNet, 		 		4 May 2011, <http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/caribbean-islands-fear-climate-change-threat-to-tourism> 		[accessed 5 May 2011]

Security Threats to the Caribbean Region

Security Threats to the Caribbean Region The Caribbean states have significant security problems that pose threats to the future ...