CIA manual describes Ben-Gurion International Airport as one of the toughest airports for its agents to navigate [Archive] – Photo: AP

The 15-page booklet, titled “CIA Assessment on Surviving Secondary Screening at Airports While Maintaining Cover,” means “to explain and advise CIA operatives on how to deal with secondary screening at airports, as they travel to and from covert CIA operations using false ID. … The document’s overarching predominant advice is to maintain cover, ‘no matter what.’

“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,” the booklet said. “Israel’s security personnel focus on frequent travel to Islamic countries. … Security personnel at Ben-Gurion airport commonly refer military-aged males traveling alone with backpacks to secondary screening, regardless of their nationality or skin color.”

The manual further explained, “Secondary screening — a potentially lengthy and detailed look by airport officials at passengers not passing initial scrutiny … can involve in-depth and lengthy questioning, intrusive searches of personal belongings, cross-checks against external databases, and collection of biometrics — all of which focus significant scrutiny on an operational traveler.

“Inspections can include examining belongings for traces of explosives. 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 noted.

“Consistent, well-rehearsed, and plausible cover is important for avoiding secondary selection and critical for surviving it,” the manual concludes.

The Israeli defense establishment has chosen not to comment on the details included in the leaked documents.

View original Israel Hayom publication at: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=22323