06 Sept : VTM (Flemish television) and airport security

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 05 Sep 2004, 23:48

According to an article in Het Nieuwsblad, VTM will broadcast a story about Belgian airport security. I think it will be on screen on Monday 6th September on 22h15, but I'm not sure about that as VTM is not giving any details yet.

For our visitors from abroad: VTM, Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij, is the leading commercial television channel in the northern part of Belgium. The Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad today announces that an undercover journalist from VTM was able to get a job at a Belgian airport, and therefore could enter a plane with a fake bomb.

Let's all wait till we've seen the program before we comment.

This is the article from the Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad (06/09/2004) - sorry it's in Dutch only:
"Controle op luchthavens loopt mank"
Tientallen mensen met een gerechtelijk verleden hebben als werknemer van luchthavenfirma's toegang tot lijnvliegtuigen in Zaventem, Antwerpen of Charleroi. Luchthavenuitbaters kunnen alleen een toegangsbadge weigeren aan iemand die de luchtvaartveiligheid rechtstreeks in gevaar brengt. Daar hoort iemand met een strafblad voor inbraken of drugs niet bij. De Staatsveiligheid en de federale politie mogen hun advies geven over kandidaat-werknemers op luchthavens. Die adviezen zijn meestal positief omdat een koninklijk besluit in zeer weinig uitsluitingsmogelijkheden voorziet. Dat geldt onder meer voor iemand met een strafblad voor wapenbezit.

Een reportersploeg van het VTM-actualiteitenmagazine Telefacts heeft die zwakke plek in de beveiliging van de luchthavens ontdekt. Een journalist kreeg na een sollicitatiegesprek van anderhalf uur een toegangsbadge voor het tarmac op de luchthaven. De journalist bracht enkele weken later een vermeend bompakket aan boord van een lijnvliegtuig met 200 passagiers. Telefacts-producer Bart De Poot wil niet preciseren op welke luchthaven de undercover-reportage is gemaakt. ,,Dit probleem rijst op alle luchthavens in België'', zegt De Poot.

Woordvoerder Jan Van der Cruysen van luchthavenbeheerder Biac: ,,Luchtvaartveiligheid is een te ernstig onderwerp om het te behandelen met goedkope sensatie. Een journalist die zich laat aanwerven bij een luchthavenfirma, bewijst helemaal niets.''

De veiligheidsdiensten pleiten al lang voor strengere toelatingsvoorwaarden voor het personeel op de luchthaven. Die zijn in België geregeld door een koninklijk besluit van 1991. Dat is lang voor de aanslagen van 11 september.

(end of article from Het Nieuwsblad)

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 06 Sep 2004, 10:32

I suppose it'll be showed in Telefacts this evening then.

I will certainly watch it, thanks for the information LX)LGX

Chris

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 06 Sep 2004, 11:43

The program now is confirmed for tonight, and Telefacts calls their story "Bom aan boord". Don't think I have to translate this...

http://www.vtm.be/telefacts/

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 06 Sep 2004, 16:24

First page news today, cheap advertisement for a VTM show !.

Lets wait and see....

Post by **sn26567** » 06 Sep 2004, 16:26

Bob, are you an actor of this drama?

EBBR · Post by **EBBR** » 06 Sep 2004, 16:35

Journalist went undercover and applied for a job at Securair with fake CV.

He could by-pass security and enter an American Airlines aircraft with a fake bomb made out of plasticine.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 06 Sep 2004, 18:59

An actor in this drama ? I hope not, but I'm just transfered to US Outbound so who knows !.

Anyway :

How easy is it to join the police and carry a gun ?
How easy is it to work for Mc Donald's and poison a burger ?
How easy is it to join the military and drive a tank ?
How easy is it to work at a airport and enter a aircraft ?

How low can a TV show go ? Lets see tonight.

Rago · Post by **Rago** » 06 Sep 2004, 20:13

RYR8023 wrote:..., that stupid guy could loose his journalist license ... ... Anyway, commercial televisions really serve a lot of crap ! With ads every 2 minutes

Let us hope he will loose his license!

These guys don't realise what major problems this will cause when somebody of the US embassy will see this report tonight! Even more indiscrete questions than already, when you're planning to go to the US...

This confirms the strategy of VTM: bringing cheap spectacle

So to the :censored: Telefacts-team :

Ozzie1969 · Post by **Ozzie1969** » 06 Sep 2004, 20:56

Allow me to go against the flow here, and say that this journalist has done nothing wrong in my eyes. Maybe his motives were purely to cause sensation (after all, this is VTM, a network dishing out trash mainly), but the fact remains that he has revealed how lax security is when it comes to hiring staff in an environment as supposedly tightly secured as an airport. I think most of us know by now that airport security is full of holes, with some airports suffering more than others. If a journalist can get hired with a fake CV, what is it that stops a terrorist with sinister motives from doing the same?

Falcon7X · Post by **Falcon7X** » 06 Sep 2004, 21:16

I don't think that a fake CV has anything to do with it. It's the ID that is the most important to perform a sercurity check since I hardly think that someone is an executing member of a terrorist group. I don't what Telefacts is going to show us this evening, but we all know that what they might show us doens't have to be the whole truth. Creating a perception is the most important of a TV station looking for sensation.

golf1411 · Post by **golf1411** » 06 Sep 2004, 22:50

Have seen telefacts. Nothing special happened. Plasticine and a mobile phone are not refused on the airport. It's just an internal rule at Securair that they may not use their mobile phone during work.
They just want some sensation but I found nothing special about the program.

Same with Luc Alloo a few years ago. They are telling that it is possible to take a plane with a false passport. What they don't tell is that they took a flight to a SHENGEN country. So no passport is required when you pass border control.

Stupid journalists.

Robin_Bamps · Post by **Robin_Bamps** » 06 Sep 2004, 22:58

Hi golf1411,

What they don't tell is that they took a flight to a SHENGEN country. So no passport is required when you pass border control.

Don't say that too fast ! In February I made a domestic flight in France (TLS-CDG), and my passport was even controlled

Regards, Robin Bamps.

SAB-OM · Post by **SAB-OM** » 07 Sep 2004, 00:48

golf1411 wrote: What they don't tell is that they took a flight to a SHENGEN country. So no passport is required when you pass border control.

not true - you don't need a visa or travel passport - but you need your European ID card.....

anyway - when you go to Terminal A (intra shengen flights) you must pass the Police who check your ID and boarding pass.... always...

golf1411 · Post by **golf1411** » 07 Sep 2004, 07:52

I'm sitting at the border control myself so I can confirm you that you don't have to show your ID at the entrance of the A-gate. Only if you give it together with your boarding pass, we check it otherwise not. Most bussiness men are frequent flyers and they are the only passengers that know what shengen really is so they never show their ID.
Above the entrance of the A-gate is also mentioned: only boarding pass.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 07 Sep 2004, 08:34

This reporter stayed 3 month's undercover working for Securair, that is a long time !!!

Question is, why ? To make this report showing basically nothing !

Hope the guy is refused to enter the airport in the future ( that is just my personal opinion ).

Remember the shoe bomber ?, he didn't fly from BRU because security was to good. He left from Paris, where the police does the screening.

VTM crew, expect a warm welcome next time you fly ......

vflies · Post by **vflies** » 07 Sep 2004, 12:20

After seeing the show, I have to disagree with you guys. IMO it was not trash TV but a real investigation. Showing some security problems at BRU... So rather that calling it "cheap TV", let's hope BIAC and Securair learn from it...

I found particularly interesting the short interviews of BIAC and Internal Affairs representatives claiming personal was strictly checked (incl their background upon joining) when we had just witnessed otherwise.
So don't they know how lax the real procedure is or (even worse) do they just turn a blind eye?

Believe me as a frequent passenger on transatlantic services going thru BRU, I'd much rather be asked some more "silly" questions and go thru extra security than end up on a victims' list!

VFlies

golf1411 · Post by **golf1411** » 07 Sep 2004, 12:45

There is nothing to learn off. Besides the false CV nothing wrong happened. 100% is not possible, there is always a trisk. What telefacts showed is old news.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 07 Sep 2004, 12:47

Who is cleaning the airport ?, who is working for handling company's ?, who is working for catering ?.

The answer is people with different cultural backgrounds ! are these people linked to a terrorist network ?. And even there a reporter can infiltrate to bring a bomb on board an AC.

What are we trying to prove here ?, that security is bad ?.

BRU is a safe airport, everyday I see items that people bring in the country that are excepted over there but defiantly forbidden over here.

People like cheap and quality, but is that possible ?. Who is going to work for 7 euro / hour cleaning the airport ?.

vflies · Post by **vflies** » 07 Sep 2004, 12:57

Who controls those Securair agents?
Other Securair agents??

They're likely to engage in chit-chat rather than actually checking them... So it would be more effective if someone else from another company could check them.

And yes, I believe anyone getting an airside ID should be thoroughly checked.
Better safe than sorry!

VFlies