An informed terrorist is significantly more likely to target an airport business lounge than an aircraft

An aircraft is a complex and challenging target to access and impact for any terrorist or group. The same can be said for dispersed, controlled and structurally strong buildings such as hotels. However, airports remain large, inviting spaces, encouraging and enabling economic agendas such as tourism and trade. While these spaces were once seemingly ‘borderless’ environment, they remain highly structured social pathways emulating status, importance and value. Whereas individual tourists mingle and drift around the supermarket and shopping malls of modern airports, privileged concentrations of ‘foreigners’ can be found within airport lounges were ‘freedom’ remains a priority over ‘security’. Given a choice, an informed terrorist is significantly more likely to invest in targeting an airline lounge than an aircraft or hotel in many parts of the world. Pandemic and post-pandemic travel may only serve to amplify this calculus of reward.

This article explores some of the issues and considerations that highlight the current and future risks of international business travel, starting with airport business lounges. 

International Airports

It is worth remembering that international airports have become Federal governance ‘camps’ within State boundaries where mobile individuals transit through contingent upon status, citizenship and means. The provision of ‘security’ at airports is increasingly blurred between numerous public security agencies at both State and Federal levels, routinely supplanted by commercial and corporate security services often competing with or instead of public security agencies.

In other words, the perimeter, ingress and egress of international airports are highly subjective and will be influenced by these unspecified public and private security actors.

Some of which are purely commercial security services replacing the job of the police, military and government intelligence agencies at cheaper rates, lower training and governance standards. Often under the excuse that public security agencies have ‘more important things to do’. Therefore, crime is attracted, deterred, and displaced according to both public and private security measures and the prospect of ‘rewards’, including terrorism. 

Terrorism

Here we consider terrorism within contemporary contexts. It is essential to stop and reflect upon global terrorism pre and post-pandemic. With over 200 official and non-official definitions of terrorism in circulation around the world, it is unlikely that a single word such as ‘terrorism’ even means the same thing within a small professional cohort constrained by a single jurisdiction; let alone around the world. Notwithstanding these definitions change routinely, frustrating efforts such as the United Nations to ratify a single, unifying definition of terrorism for nearly 50 years. Moreover, imperial and colonial perspectives of terrorism often negate local views on injustice, freedoms and human rights referring to any form of passive or offensive resistance as ‘counter-insurgency’ or ‘counter-terrorism’ operations rather than political struggles for equality or a voice. In short, ‘terrorism’ narratives and perspectives remain dominated by Western, European and US perspectives that conceal local attempts at ‘fair’ economic rights, livelihoods and opportunity. As a result, targeting of foreign interests (companies, citizens, etc.)

In locations labelled as active or probable ‘terrorism’ locations hide the fact that many attacks are more likely sociological, economic and culturally motivated.

Sometimes the two converge, and violent physical attacks seek both ideological justice and financial rewards. Post-pandemic inequality and injustice will be topical and unevenly distributed around the world. 

Multivariate Strategy: Economics, Terrorism & Fear

At this point in the article emphasis on the most dominant tourism and travelling population (according to limited tourism studies and academia) is considered. Most Western, European and American travellers have been exposed to the complex nature of high profile and successful terrorist attacks involving not just ideology but economics and perceived social inequality expressed through violence and harm, as perpetrated by the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre. The attacks provided a more pronounced view of coupling physical violence with economic damage. Not only were the buildings prominent artefacts on the New York skyline, but they also stood out as concentrated economic and financial symbols for a nation, hundreds of prominent commercial brands and thousands of people employed on their behalf. The buildings provided significant cultural and financial messaging for trade and terrorism. Hollywood films have helped communicate the relationship between finance and terrorism with fictional and non-fictional depictions of countries, organisations and individuals. The successful re-launch of the James Bond, 007 franchise with actor Daniel Craig even included complex terrorism relationships with the targeting and shorting of stock options for a new breed of aircraft unveiled at an airport. The imagery was visceral for the film going audience and those considering asymmetrical attacks against a superior adversary by complicated economic means.

In short, detailed plots and analysis of real or hypothesized terrorist attacks both inform and educate the public and would-be terrorists along with their cohorts. 

Convergent Themes: Terrorism, Economics, Foreigners & Air Travel

At this stage, the convergent connection between terrorism, economics, foreigners and air travel should be evident. In sum, seemingly oppressed or collective struggles for equality against globalisation or key nations remains a complex topic not easily simplified in a Hollywood movie or single article. However, some groups have identified the concentration of foreigners and foreign interests as the nexus of opportunity and reward which results in mass media coverage, cultural fear and securitisation for even the most rudimentary and failed of terrorist acts. Notwithstanding, the overstatement of capability and risk has long been a topic of enquiry within the area of terrorism, benefiting sellers of ‘security’ solutions within both public and private spheres, further distorting perspectives. With that said, concentrated terrorism-themed efforts targeting foreigners has typically been over-represented by tourism-associated attacks, hotel bombings, entertainment/community and religious gatherings. Far less frequently, aviation terrorism threats are discussed. Even less discussed is airport terrorism threats, despite the over-representation of ‘security’ theatre and practices at airports around the world.

Almost non-existent within all these narratives and considerations are airport business lounges. 

Airport Business Lounges

Reverting back to the topic of airports, this section expands on initial observations. Nearly any rational, reasoning individual will observe the classification and sorting of people at an airport and see that the most ‘valued’ people at an airport or by an airline are that permitted access to the pinnacle of globalised business success, the business and first-class lounges. This oasis of attainment is much like the increasing ‘skybox’ or ‘corporate box’ entitlements of the free trade elites. Whereas the rest of the travelling populace at an airport is randomly dispersed around increasingly sprawling real estate (except for security checks, boarding and flight). The ‘kinetic elites’ of the business world are highly concentrated within single door access, gated communities guarded by cordial and welcoming airline customer service agents. Privilege can be purchased. Additionally, commodification markets have emerged where business travellers avoid ‘public’ security checks in the form of expressed processing, gather out of sight of the public and even board to sit in inflight exclusion areas separate from ‘others’. Not surprisingly, this heterogeneous cohort remains almost exclusively wealthy, privileged, ‘brand associated’ and non-native to the airport of departure.

You don’t need to be a highly trained, skilled or experienced terrorist or international security expert to see this phenomenon occur on every flight, every day at nearly every international airport around the world.

That is until a global pandemic disrupted international travel. 

Business Travellers and Other Kinetic Elites

The first people governments, airlines and companies what to fly internationally… are these kinetic elites or business travellers. Concessions, ‘special arrangements’ and other incentives are all being offered. Where will they be concentrated….in airline lounges. However, not only have individual and life safety considerations changed, but so too has ‘security’ at airports. Budgets have been cut, supply chains altered, fewer people travelling all contributed to less money being spent on ‘security’, which may not even be employed at airports to the same standard of security as pre-pandemic travel.

In short, ‘security decay’ has infused the global travel network, including airports.

Complex ex-ante forecasts, stochastic modelling and even game-theory, are not required in a pandemic or post-pandemic world of business travel. Just stop and look at where all the most ‘valued’ foreigners are located at an airport. You can be assured ideologically motivated groups, including terrorists are. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, most lay-people understand the opportunity highly concentrated foreigners and their companies or citizenship present to local, resistant movements, including terrorism. Anyone who has travelled more than once has observed the privileged class system applied at airports and flights. It is, therefore, no real surprise that airline lounges will become a key focal point of scrutiny during a pandemic and post-pandemic travelling cohort for both adversarial and protective communities.

In other words, the few that travel and those of most ‘value’ will be found in highly concentrated locations most prominent at airline lounges at airports, the gateway and exit for international talent alike.

The question this article raises is “just who is protected and by whom?” This question will remain top of mind for transnational and international security practitioners for years to come as the global travel network, local security and domestic economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have altered ‘norms’ in ways as yet unknown. Moreover, those who formally traded in ‘certainty’, ‘assurance’ and ‘accuracy when it comes to complex, network safety and security risks such as international travel have been forced to concede that information is not a proxy for knowledge and expertise, regardless of brand. 

Tony Ridley, MSc: Security, Risk & Management Sciences