DEATH OF THE “CODE POSITIVE” SYSTEM
This surrender was total without any conditions. The Israeli government gave up to pressures put on it by less powerful bodies. The result is bad, very bad.The “Code Positive” system designed to let the security authorities in Israel know when an aircraft heading towards Ben-Gurion airport is controlled by terrorists was killed last year actually before it was even born.
The “cold feet” syndrome that affected the decision process of the Israeli ministry of transport raises a big question about the power of a country to implement measures that are not comfortable to some while they are raising the security level of many.
The highly classified “Code Positive” system was developed by Elbit systems and was designed to allow the Israeli ATC to verify that an aircraft heading for Israel is not hostile.
The plan was to give the special cards to all pilots that regularly fly to Israel. The smart cards are capable of verifying the pilot’s identity. A special control center was set up to receive the output of the system and to clear each aircraft.
Five airlines agreed to take part in the pilot, US Airways, Delta, Continental , Air Canada and Ethiopian Airlines.
The opposition to the use of the Code Positive system has been very wide. The European commission joined IATA and IFALPA. These organizations claimed that the system might create discriminatory disadvantages and impediments to the development of air services to Israel, without providing a satisfactory increase in the level of security.
Sources in the Ministry said that the system will eventually be shelved.
The five airlines continued to use the Code Positive in some of their flights but stopped after it became clear that the program was actually scrapped and buried.
The views about the issue are split. Some say that the program could not be implemented full scale. Others say that a country is sovereign to implement security measure of any kind.
The fact is that the government was not determined enough and therefore lost the battle. Only the future will show if that was a mistake.
