Airport protection system on the way; Planned before plot, high-tech fence expected to be up next year

WASHINGTON - A virtual fence with state-of-the-art heat, movement and video sensors to detect and deter terrorists is being installed around Kennedy and three other New York-area airports modeled on systems at Israel's Ben-Gurion and Baghdad's airports.

The 57-mile system, which is expected to be in operation early next year, is supposed to tip off police to a plot like the one unveiled Saturday that aimed to blow up a fuel line inside the airport.

"If you can't breach the perimeter of the airport, you can't reach the fuel farms," said one official, who asked not to be named.

The $138-million design, which is being built at Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Teterboro, N.J., airports, is the first of its kind to be installed in the U.S., according to Marc La Vorgna of the Port Authority. It was in the works before the alleged Kennedy Airport plot was known.

Designed by Raytheon, it is composed of strategically placed sensors, including radar, video motion detectors, thermal imagers and closed-circuit television, which would send round-the-clock information to a central Port Authority Police station, as well as to a command post at each airport. The system will also be able to send instant video to first responders to stop an intruder in real time, La Vorgna said.

Homeland security expert James Jay Carafano called the new system a valuable addition to a layered security approach.

"When there's a burglary in the neighborhood, you lock the doors and windows," he said. "Perimeter security in an airport is like locking your door. You do that, but then you also get a cop to go out and arrest the terrorist."

But several security experts, including the former head of security at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion International Airport, said that the technology was valuable only if paired with an ample and well-trained police force.

"The question is not only detecting an intrusion but being able to respond to it in due time," said Rafi Ron, a former Ben-Gurion security director who now heads a transportation security firm in McLean, Va. "I think that most U.S. airports are relatively quick to invest in the technology, but fail to provide the human resources to respond to the detection when it occurs."

Billie Vincent, an aviation security consultant and former FAA security chief, said the system could be hugely beneficial - or "worthless without a response force that can get there before the adversary gets to one of your critical facilities, or to an airplane at the end of a runway."

"Without deploying sufficient response teams," he said, "all you've done is raise your level of anxiety if you can see the adversary, but you can't get to him in time."

La Vorgna declined to specify police presence at the New York airports, but said they are already "aggressively patrolled."

"The technology will not replace the existing human security," he said. "... The technology will allow the Port Authority Police Department to identify potential problems and respond more quickly."

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