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Gaps in Egyptian Airport Security Face Scrutiny After Crash Gaps in Egyptian Airport Security Face Scrutiny After Crash
(about 4 hours later)
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — The airport is surrounded by a wall topped with barbed wire. Armed sentries are stationed at its entrance, and passengers pass through two security screenings before reaching departure gates; before a recent departing flight, there were no fewer than eight uniformed guards standing around the checkpoint.SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt — The airport is surrounded by a wall topped with barbed wire. Armed sentries are stationed at its entrance, and passengers pass through two security screenings before reaching departure gates; before a recent departing flight, there were no fewer than eight uniformed guards standing around the checkpoint.
But potential inconsistencies in airport security here and elsewhere in Egypt have never been hard to detect. As guards at a metal detector here forced a departing passenger on a recent trip to throw out a pack of safety razors found in his luggage, an airport cafe worker breezed past the checkpoint without any search or inspection. At the Cairo airport on Friday, an officer at an X-ray machine sent text messages while he was scanning luggage. Another guard took a passenger at his word when he said it was his phone that had caused a metal detector to beep. But potential inconsistencies in airport security here and elsewhere in Egypt have never been hard to detect. As guards at a metal detector here forced a departing passenger recently to throw out a pack of safety razors found in his luggage, an airport cafe worker breezed past the checkpoint without any search or inspection. At the Cairo airport on Friday, an officer at an X-ray machine sent text messages while he was scanning luggage. Another guard took a passenger at his word when he said the phone in his pocket had caused a metal detector to beep.
Those potential gaps are now under a spotlight, as preliminary evidence from the crash of a Russian charter jet on Oct. 31 points to the possibility of a bombing, and several countries have restricted flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh. Theories about how a bomb might have gotten onto the plane, whose passengers and crew were almost all Russians, have focused on the possibility that an airport worker might have been involved. Those potential gaps are now under a spotlight, as preliminary evidence from the crash of a Russian charter jet on Oct. 31 points to the possibility of a bombing, and several countries have restricted flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh. Theories about how a bomb might have gotten onto the plane, whose passengers and crew were all from Russia or its neighboring countries, have focused on the possibility that an airport worker might have been involved.
The Egyptian authorities have repeatedly refused to offer or confirm any theories about the cause of the disaster. At a news conference on Saturday, they said they were still considering all possibilities, and that no conclusions could be reached until the investigation had run its course. Ayman al-Muqaddam, the Egyptian official leading the multinational committee investigating the crash, said at a news conference in Cairo that it was still premature to discuss any specific possibilities. He avoided even uttering the word bomb. Pressed about alternative theories under consideration, he mentioned the possibility of a lithium battery in luggage, a spark in a fuel tank, metal fatigue in the plane’s fuselage or “the explosion of something,” and then hurried away from reporters.
Airport officials have been trying to reassure travelers by letting foreign reporters tour and film the airport, including its baggage scanning facility. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt said in London last week that Egyptian airport security authorities willingly complied with specific requests the British government made 10 months ago about improving procedures at Sharm el Sheikh, a resort city where many Britons vacation. “We have cooperated with them,” Mr. Sisi said. “And they checked the security actions; they were happy with that.” Besides Egypt, the investigation involves experts from Russia and the Western European countries where the plane was designed, built and leased. In recent days, the Russian authorities have, unusually, asked the F.B.I. for assistance in the investigation, according to senior American officials. Airport officials have been trying to reassure travelers by letting foreign reporters tour and film the airport, including its baggage scanning facility.
Still, in recent years, aviation officials from a number of European countries have found multiple areas of concern at Sharm el Sheikh, according to officials with knowledge of the inspectors’ findings. The weaknesses included X-ray and explosives-detection equipment that was out of date, out of order or infrequently maintained, and staff members who had not been adequately trained to use it, according to one official who reviewed the reports. Shortcomings were found in the screening of both passengers and checked baggage, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the airport assessments were not public. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt said in London last week that Egyptian airport security authorities had willingly complied with specific requests the British government made 10 months ago about improving procedures at Sharm el Sheikh, a resort city on the Red Sea where many Britons vacation. “We have cooperated with them,” Mr. Sisi said. “And they checked the security actions; they were happy with that.”
The security failings at Sharm el Sheikh and other Egyptian airports, some of them identified as recently as January 2015, were seen as significant enough to prompt formal recommendations to the Egyptians that they be addressed. One country even agreed to provide the Sharm el Sheikh airport with additional explosives-detection equipment to screen checked baggage. But the security problems were evidently never considered serious enough to warrant banning flights. Officials from several European countries have raised concerns about Sharm el Sheikh and other Egyptian airports over the years, diplomats and other officials said last week. They have repeatedly complained that X-ray and explosive-detection equipment used to scan baggage is out of date, poorly maintained or poorly operated by inadequately trained staff members, officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the airport assessments were not public.
“We have been working for some considerable time with the Egyptians on Sharm,” said a British official, who acknowledged that London had sent a team of experts in January “to look at the security situation in the resort, and including, as part of that, at the airport.” Britain, which sends tens of thousands of tourists to Egypt each year, has provided the nation with more advanced detection equipment, and has insisted on precautions like special security checks at the boarding gate for Britain-bound flights. It requested further precautions after a specific threat arose around the Cairo airport this year.
While declining to discuss specifics, that official said the Egyptian authorities had been responsive to the concerns that were raised and addressed them to Britain’s satisfaction at the time. “We set out a number of measures that we thought would be helpful and that should be put in place, and the Egyptians worked very closely with us on those,” the official said. “We have been working for some considerable time with the Egyptians on Sharm,” said a British official, adding that the Egyptian authorities had been responsive. “We set out a number of measures that we thought would be helpful and that should be put in place, and the Egyptians worked very closely with us on those,” the official said.
The crash of the Russian-operated Airbus jetliner last weekend killed all 224 people on board. The plane broke up in flight about 23 minutes after takeoff, an Egyptian official said at a briefing in Cairo on Saturday, scattering debris over a large stretch of desert. Before the Oct. 31 crash of the Russian-operated Airbus jetliner, which killed all 224 people on board, the concerns about the Egyptian airports were never considered serious enough to warrant suspending flights there. But after the crash, the British took another look at Sharm el Sheikh, and found problems with the way checked baggage was screened and safeguarded afterward, according to officials briefed on the matter.
Signs have increasingly pointed to an explosion on board the aircraft, including a loud sound heard in the last second recorded by the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, which Egyptian officials confirmed on Saturday. Britain suspended flights for more than a day last week to put in place additional safeguards, including transporting passengers and luggage in separate planes. Several other countries have followed suit, including Russia, which sends by far the most tourists to Sharm el Sheikh.
A number of countries have halted flights to Sharm el Sheikh, including Russia and Britain, major sources of visitors to the resort, leaving Egypt’s already sputtering tourism industry potentially facing collapse. Russian officials said Saturday that more than 70,000 of their citizens were in Egypt awaiting the arrival of jets being sent to carry them home. British officials said on Saturday that there were about 19,000 Britons at Sharm el Sheikh and that it would take 10 days to get them all home.
The government has also complained about news leaks from allied governments, including the United States and Britain, regarding intelligence they have collected about the crash. The exodus from Sharm el Sheikh has left Egypt’s already sputtering tourism industry, which is vital to its economy, potentially facing collapse.
The intelligence, including intercepted phone conversations of militants discussing the crash, apparently prompted the travel restrictions. Egyptian officials, including the foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, complained on Saturday that the intelligence had not been shared with them. “We expected that we would have been informed of any available information on the technical level, instead of it being released so widely in the media,” Mr. Shoukry said. Only a small number of Western European airlines operated direct flights to Sharm el Sheikh before the crash, flying from cities in Britain, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Airlines from some countries, including France and the Netherlands, stopped offering direct service in recent years, in part out of security concerns, European officials said.
Mr. Shoukry said that he understood the “worries of some states” regarding the crash. The authorities were working “to reassure these states that the procedures being taken in Egypt are up to international standards,” he said. Yasser Jahin, the deputy director of the Sharm el Sheikh airport, said that staff members were “following international standards, with a precise and high level of security.”
Only a small number of European airlines operated direct flights to Sharm el Sheikh before the crash, flying from cities in Britain, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Airlines from some countries, including France and the Netherlands, stopped offering direct service in recent years, in part out of security concerns, European officials said. Since the crash, he added, the number of military and police patrols outside the perimeter of the airport had increased. He noted that several airlines were still showing confidence in the airport, with five German charter flights arriving on Saturday alone, bringing in more than 800 tourists and departing with passengers and their luggage. German security specialists were on hand at the airport, Mr. Jahin said.
Since the crash, European governments have demanded further enhancements to security, including more meticulous screening of carry-on and checked baggage, as a condition for resuming flights. Countries organizing special flights to bring stranded travelers home have told them that any baggage other than carry-on items must be left behind, to be forwarded later. As Egypt has faced growing pressure to explain its theories of the crash, government officials have lashed out at allies, including the United States and Britain, saying they had leaked intelligence about the disaster to news outlets without sharing it with the Egyptians.
“It’s an evolving situation, and we need to keep it under review,” the British official said. “We expected that we would have been informed of any available information on the technical level, instead of it being released so widely in the media,” the foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, complained in a news conference on Saturday.
A cluster of soldiers and security guards stood at the entrance to Sharm el Sheikh airport on Saturday in a show of increased vigilance, screening drivers and passengers arriving in cars and buses. The Egyptian military also took control of registering stranded Russian passengers, according to Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian deputy prime minister who is charge of the efforts to repatriate Russian from Egypt. He said that there were some 79,000 Russians who needed transportation home from there, from Cairo and from the Red Sea resort of Hurghada. Mr. Shoukry said he understood the “worries of some states” regarding the crash. The authorities were working “to reassure these states that the procedures being taken in Egypt are up to international standards,” he said.
In Sharm el Sheikh, a cluster of soldiers and security guards stood at the entrance to the airport on Saturday in a show of increased vigilance, screening drivers and passengers arriving in cars and buses as the airport filled with anxious passengers trying to fly home. The Egyptian military also took control of registering stranded Russian passengers, according to Arkady Dvorkovich, the Russian deputy prime minister who is in charge of the efforts to repatriate Russians from Egypt.
Egyptian officials told Reuters that they were checking airport security-camera video from the day of the crash to see whether someone might have sneaked past security officials, or if there was “any unusual activity among policemen or airport staff” at Sharm el Sheikh.Egyptian officials told Reuters that they were checking airport security-camera video from the day of the crash to see whether someone might have sneaked past security officials, or if there was “any unusual activity among policemen or airport staff” at Sharm el Sheikh.
But the security officers at the airport entrance also barred several journalists from entering the airport on Saturday, a sign that the government may be growing wary of the heightened international attention to the airport and its operations.But the security officers at the airport entrance also barred several journalists from entering the airport on Saturday, a sign that the government may be growing wary of the heightened international attention to the airport and its operations.
Philip Baum, the editor of Aviation Security International, said that while attention was focused on Sharm el Sheikh and other Egyptian airports because of the disaster, the same “limitations and fallibilities exist in many other airports around the world.”
The theory some have advanced — that an airport insider may have been able to place a bomb on the plane — “could happen at a multitude of airports,” he said. “With sophisticated devices concealed by intelligent terrorists, systems can by bypassed.”
Signs have increasingly pointed to an explosion onboard the aircraft, including a sound heard in the last second recorded by the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, which Egyptian officials confirmed on Saturday.
Russia has asked for the F.B.I.’s help in analyzing forensic evidence from the crash to pinpoint its cause, American officials said. The F.B.I. and its Russian counterpart, the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., often collaborate against common enemies like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, but the request for help on the plane crash was seen as unusual.