CIA Offers Spooks Tips for Israel Airport Screening

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By JTA December 23, 2014

The Central Intelligence Agency offers guidelines for its operatives using false identities to get through a “secondary screening” at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport, according to a secret CIA document uploaded to WikiLeaks.

The document, which is titled “CIA Assessment on Surviving Secondary Screening at Airports While Maintaining Cover” and dated September 2011, was uploaded to WikiLeaks on Sunday night, Haaretz reported.

It says Ben Gurion Airport is very thorough at screening international travelers. The guidelines on the secondary screening — what the document calls “a potentially lengthy and detailed look by airport officials at passengers not passing initial scrutiny” — helps the CIA operatives maintain their alias.

The report reveals several details about the security procedures at the airport.

“Security personnel at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, commonly refer military-aged males traveling alone with backpacks to secondary screening, regardless of their nationality or skin color,” the document reads.

It continues: “At Ben Gurion airport in Israel, the secondary screening room contains trace-detection equipment for explosive residue; tools for dismantling passengers’ personal items for inspection, particularly items unfamiliar to security officers; and a disrobing area, divided by privacy curtains, to conduct strip searches of individuals, if necessary.”

The document also singles out Ben Gurion Airport for its particularly stringent background checks.

“With the exception of Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and a few others, immigration inspectors conducting primary screenings generally lack the time and tools to conduct in-depth examination of travelers’ bona fides.”

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