SECURITY PRIVATIZATION BEST SOLUTION FOR NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 000685

SIPDIS

AMMAN FOR TSAR BRYANT CHEVALIER
ABU DHABI FOR FAA REP ROY BARNETT AND ICE
FRANKFURT FOR TSA OFFICE
STATE FOR DS, DSS, DS/T/ATA, AND DS/IP
STATE FOR EEB/TRA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2018
TAGS: EAIR ASEC QA
SUBJECT: SECURITY PRIVATIZATION BEST SOLUTION FOR NEW
AIRPORT

Classified By: Amb. Joseph LeBaron, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

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(C) KEY POINTS
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-- Based on projected Phase 1 capacity for the New Doha
International Airport (NDIA),projected at 24 million
passengers/year starting in 2011, the airport will require
thousands of security screeners, approximately 860 per shift,
according to a private American security consultant.

-- Qatar Airways and the GOQ's private consultants want to
privatize screening, but the Ministry of Interior (MOI) is
not yet fully on board with giving up this responsibility.

-- NDIA, based on the current design, will have some of the
best access control and screening facilities in the world,
though human resources limitations will continue to pose a
major challenge to getting security right, according to the
same consultant.

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(C) COMMENTS
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-- After a tough year that saw the Embassy and TSA work
closely with the GOQ to improve airport security,
particularly for direct flights to the United States, the GOQ
seems to be moving in a positive direction on establishing
long-term solutions for security screening in staffing and
design.

-- Privatizing the security screening function seems to be
the best solution, as it would remove much of the manpower
pressures on the MOI and, if good contractors are used,
assure that the job is done right.

-- The Embassy continues to work with the GOQ and TSA to
encourage a visit to the U.S. of key Qatari aviation security
officials, so they can see new checkpoint design features and
"non-intrusive" technologies which would enhance Qatar's new
airport.

END KEY POINTS AND COMMENTS.


1. (C) Rich Roth (protect),a private American consultant
whose firm CTI Consulting Services has a security contract
with the NDIA Committee, told Econoff in late August that the
current NDIA design has secondary passenger and luggage
screening capability at each gate - i.e., not just one
general screening area for the terminal, but individual gate
checkpoints. (Note: CTI Consulting Services is a
sub-contractor for the project under British firm Control
Risk; its mandate covers NDIA, although the firm has some
leeway to advise on security conditions at the current Doha
International Airport.) Asked why the committee does not
want to consolidate screening activities, Roth suggested that
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker just "doesn't want to take
any chances."


2. (C) The consultants are advising the committee that Qatar
could solve its manpower problems with contract screeners,
with the MOI playing more of a supervisory and general
airport law enforcement role. Al-Baker supports such a move
(something he has separately told Econoff) but Roth said the
MOI is "still being sensitized" to the inevitability of such
a shift. Illustrating this disconnect, MOI Airport Security
Director Brigadier Nasser Al-Malki told Econoff September 23
that staffing the new airport will be a huge challenge, and
his current staff will need at least to double in size.
Though a "hard problem," he asserted the MOI will meet the
challenge. Separately, Al-Malki suggested that separate gate
screening will not be common practice, but gate screening
areas are being integrated into the design to allow the
option of supplemental screening.


3. (C) Roth assessed that the College of the North Atlantic -
Qatar (CNAQ) provides quality training and has the potential
to become a major regional training center. (Note: CNAQ is a

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Canadian technical institution that includes a security
academy among its program areas. With Embassy and TSA
support, the MOI has begun training its airport screeners at
the college, currently the only entity in Qatar certified by
the Civil Aviation Authority to conduct such training). Roth
also judged that the CAA's expatriate advisor, Ian Gilchrist,
is moving the country's aviation security regulations and
standard operating procedures in line with ICAO and Far East
Asia models.

LeBaron