[Peetwo]

Senate Inquiry: Airport & Aviation Security MKII

The strangely delayed inquiry into airport and aviation security has been temporarily re-incarnated in the 45th Parliament. Here is part of the inquiry preamble so far:

...Submissions should be received by 16 January 2015. The reporting date is 26 April 2015. On 26 March 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 21 May 2015. On 14 May 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 12 August 2015. On 12 August 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 9 September 2015. On 9 September 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 2 December 2015. On 12 November 2015, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 19 May 2016. On 9 May 2016, the inquiry lapsed with the dissolution of the Senate and House of Representatives for a general election on 2 July 2016.  

On 15 September 2016 the Senate agreed to re-refer the inquiry with a reporting date of 1 December 2016. On 10 November 2016, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 7 February 2017.

Submissions and additional information received are available on the inquiry webpage. 

      
Querying the last extension I noticed at the start of the week in Senate Hansard the committee notified a impromptu public hearing for 1600 LMT on 24 November 2016. Two days before this hearing the program was released and it was revealed there would be only one witness giving evidence, Mr Allan Kessing.

At about the same time Mr Kessing's submission was also made publicly available:

21 Mr Allan Kessing (PDF 102 KB)

    
Then yesterday Binger, in the Oz, wrote a late article summarising the Allan Kessing submission and evidence given in the inquiry:

Airport screening a ‘facade’
1:56pmMitchell Bingemann

Whistleblower Allan Kessing says passenger screening is a “useless facade”, and intelligence gathering needs resources.

Allan Kessing, a former Customs officer convicted of leaking reports about serious security flaws at Sydney airport, has described passenger screening terminals as a useless facade and said more resources must be poured into intelligence gathering to stop terrorists from launching attacks.

Mr Kessing wrote two damning reports on Sydney airport security in 2003 that dealt with a range of security concerns including alleged illegal activity by baggage handlers and surveillance “black holes”.

In 2007 he was convicted of breaching Section 70 of the Commonwealth Crimes Act after the courts found he leaked the long-ignored reports to this newspaper that revealed criminality and security flaws at Sydney Airport.

The exposure of those reports triggered a far-reaching probe into airport security, the Wheeler report, which prompted the Federal Government to spend $200 million establishing airport police commands and boosting Customs surveillance.

But fronting a Senate committee investigating airport and aviation security in Canberra last night, Mr Kessing said that despite those upgrades many security protocols in place at today’s airports were ineffective at stopping terrorist attacks from occurring.


Whistleblower Allan Kessing.

Mr Kessing, who worked as a Customs intelligence officer for 15 years, singled out passenger screening terminals as being an ineffective “facade”.

“Passenger screening as we know it is about doing something but it is not effective, and in fact I think it is deleterious,” he said.

Mr Kessing pointed to the examples of the so-called Shoe Bomber and Underwear Bomber.

Richard Reid, also known as the Shoe Bomber, evaded security checkpoints at airports and attempted to detonate explosives packed into his shoes while on board an American Airlines flight in 2001.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, known as the Underwear Bomber, attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board a Northwest Airlines Flight in 2009

“Both of them were not detected and yet because they were failures (in security) is why we have to go through these screening procedures,” Mr Kessing said.

“I would not feel safe without passenger screening but (it’s there) only as a facade.”
Mr Kessing said passenger screening terminals were only effective at deterring lone wolf terrorists who did not possess the means to bypass security and who had been kicked out of criminal and terrorist organisations for being “loose cannons”.

“However I would advocate that real resources be put into intelligence gathering ... to ensure the real terrorists are caught before they have breakfast and leave home,” he said.

Mr Kessing took the opportunity of the Senate committee hearing to again protest his innocence in the leaking of the Sydney Airport security reports, saying that despite being charged, he was not the whistleblower.

“I was not (the person who leaked the reports),” he said.

Mr Kessing also said he was “very much” annoyed at being characterised as a whistleblower.

When asked who could have leaked the report, Mr Kessing said drafts were available to people in his covert Customs unit as well as other officers in intelligence organisations.

“The only person who had access to full draft was my senior officer but other members of our team also had access to select sections,” he said.
Mr Kessing was given a suspended jail sentence of nine months when he was convicted of the leaks in 2007.

Despite his protestations of innocence, the Federal Government has rejected a pardon application from Mr Kessing.

The Hansard from that hearing is yet to be released but the following is a video montage of the very revealing and disturbing evidence given by AK.

Video two probably should have the heading 'money talks' when (about 02:30) AK reveals that the reason his 2nd report was also rejected, by the customs airport manager at Sydney airport...

"..We were told, quite simply, that the commercial costs involved in complying with the Customs Act would be onerous..(sic), too onerous for the now privatised airport corporation (i.e. SAC)..."  

"That was all she wrote"... -The final video signals the end of the public part of the hearing and this was due in large part because Barry-O (with the braces on ) began to 'mechanically' ask for name, rank and serial numbers...

You know there is trouble afoot when Barry-O goes (01:42)...

"..let me place on the record my interest..(sic)..I am so disturbed by the evidence of this witness.." 

Will put up the Hansard once it is available...


MTF...P2