The aviation security landscape has been rapidly evolving, specifically with regard to renewed federal priorities on employee vetting and employee access controls at airports. This year’s AAAE Airport Credentialing and Access Control Conference continued the tradition of bringing together airport security and credentialing personnel, TSA leadership, and leading industry technology experts to explore the current challenges we face as an industry as well as identify best practices and respond to evolving changes in regulatory requirements and technology advancements.
In addition to reviewing current aviation employee credentialing and access control programs and requirements, this conference examined, through expert panel discussions, the issues, challenges and opportunities associated with new and proposed initiatives related to aviation credentialing and access control. In particular, conference discussions focused on new and emerging federal policy which impacts credentialing, advancements in reporting, and compliance and strategies for mitigating the insider threat while simultaneously ensuring efficient and streamlined processes at each airport.
David Peeples was honored to speak in one of these expert panels about strategies for badge auditing and increasing badge accountability. “One of the issues facing airports right now is how little value people place on their badges, so they will lose them,” said Peeples. “This affects the lost badge ratio and can lead to security issues. So during my panel discussion, we talked about how much value we place on a cheap pair of sunglasses versus how much we would care for an expensive pair of sunglasses and not lose them. The conclusion is that the airports can increase the awareness of the true value of badges to the vendors and airport employees so that the badges do not go missing.”
