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I fly into Dulles International Airport about once a month, and it's hard to believe it serves as the air hub for the city that houses the headquarters of the Homeland Security Department. Based on my observations during the past two years, the roadways in front of the terminal are a parking lot for the privileged, despite all the signs forbidding parking or standing.

The reasons for the ban seem obvious to me. Some bad guy with a bomb could decide to blow up himself and his car or ram through the doors, as happened last June at the Glasgow, Scotland, airport.

Despite the potential threat posed by vehicles parked in front of the terminal, Dulles seems to take a lackadaisical approach to enforcing its no-parking, no-standing rules.

I have ample opportunity to observe the cars that park with impunity in front of the Dulles terminal , since I always take the Washington Flyer shuttle (which costs $16 round trip, plus Metro fare versus $50 or more one-way for a cab, boss).

On my last trip -- Tuesday, Feb. 19 -- I just missed the shuttle, so I had the chance to watch a Ford Explorer parked in front of the terminal for 25 minutes with the driver contentedly reading a book. (I think it was War and Peace.)

Not once during that time did I see a traffic enforcement officer or a police officer from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on the terminal roadway. A couple of Transportation Security Administration contractors out for a smoke break explained that "it's cold and raining...and the traffic officers don't come out in the rain."

I contacted the airports authority and received the following response stating the obvious:

"We advise passengers who drive to our airports that the area in front of the terminals is for immediate loading and unloading only. Anybody seeing suspicious vehicles or activity should report it to a uniformed officer in person or by calling 703-572-2812 (Dulles Airport) or 703-417-8210 (National Airport). Both airports have police officers assigned to patrol the curbside areas."

The statement added, "Security at the airport involves the combined efforts of many agencies and the public. Some aspects of airport security are not visible to the public and it is our policy not to discuss our security program."

We all know what the problem here is -- Washingtonitis. These long-term parkers consider themselves Very Important People who should be allowed to stay as long as they want -- even if the airport police or traffic officers tell them to move.

But how do we know those parked cars are driven by only the arrogant and not terrorists scoping out a new avenue of attack -- or getting ready to launch one? How about patrolling the terminal roads aggressively and treating every car parked or standing more than five minutes as suspicious and towing it? Do that a few times -- with appropriate publicity -- and the Very Important People might decide to follow the rules that apply to mere mortals.

Better in Baltimore?

Jack Cahalan, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation (who also happens to be my cousin) told me that since Sept. 11, Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has taken a proactive approach to crack down on curbside parking, and he doubted anyone could park in front of the BWI terminal for 25 minutes without being told to move.

Cpl. Jonathan Green, a spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, said BWI has an aggressive strategy to enforce its no-parking, no-standing rules. This includes both police and private security officers patrolling terminal roads.

Jack said BWI also may have fewer people parking outside the terminal compared to Dulles due to a dearth of important people in the Baltimore area. "No one is important up here," he said.

The Air Force and Google Earth

The Google Earth software platform has attracted numerous third-party developers, including the U.S. Geological Survey, which imports and layers geographic information system software onto Google Earth maps and imagery.

Here's another example: Capt. Mark Jacobsen, a C-17 pilot with the 10th Airlift Squadron at McChord Air Force Base in California, has developed a truly breathtaking utility that marries military flight planning software with Google Earth.

The utility, Jacobsen said, allows pilots to easily convert data from the military's FalconView mapping software used for flight planning into Google Earth with just a few clicks. Pilots can then quickly and easily visualize their flight-plan routes. The tool also makes it simple to use Google Earth for airspace management, threat plotting and avoidance, and target/drop zone visualization, he explained on his Web site.

Jacbosen said he was inspired to write the program when his squadron used Google Earth to preview air drops in Afghanistan. He met other pilots who used Google Earth to supplement their flight planning and decided the demand was there for a quality product that integrated with flight planning software. He hasn't figured out how to get paid for his labors, butJacobsen said his "main reward comes from the knowledge that I'm serving my fellow soldiers and airmen." He said he would appreciate feedback at info@googleearthpilot.com.

Jacobsen's software shows that innovation often comes from end users who find a way to develop applications to satisfy real needs at a cost that would not even pay for the drafting of an RFP.

How Not to Mark an H-Bomb

Last August, in a widely reported incident, an Air Force B-52 flew from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana loaded with six nuclear-tipped missiles piloted by a crew that had no idea they had nuclear arms on board.

The Defense Science Board investigated the incident and in a report issued in February said that one of the problems was what seemed to be a rather slapdash approach to identifying nukes in storage at Minot.

Though the Defense Department has widely adopted the use of radio frequency identification technology to track and identify supplies, parts and materiel, the science board reported that the Air Force has a decidedly low-tech approach to marking the difference between nuclear and non-nuclear missiles in the Minot storage facility -- an 8-by-10inch piece of paper placed somewhere on a pylon of missiles.

Past practices had required the use of multiple placards and orange cones around the nukes as well, the board said. But by last August, only the sheet of paper remained, which sure seems a strange way to identify a weapon of mass destruction.

Oh well, at least the Air Force didn't use sticky notes, whose glue tends to work less well over time and fall off.

Information Sharing Goes International

Once the Defense Department forges the way, other nations are not far behind. Here's an example: The Finnish military apparently is adopting the information sharing -- in Finnish, that would be informaatio jako -- principles espoused by Pentagon Chief Information Officer John Grimes.

In a Grimes-like briefing at the NATO Chiefs of Transformation Conference last December, Col. Esa Pulkkinen, deputy commander for plans and policy at the Finnish Defence Command, said NATO needs to move to a shared information environment based on a service-oriented architecture.

Grimes should be proud.

COMMENTS

• Don't understand this one. EVERY time I've gone to Dulles to pick up someone (not too often, thank goodness) I can hardly slow down without being yelled at. Seems to me they have people just moving up and down the driveway, preventing people from stopping. Carl Day Posted April 14, 2008 11:58 AM
• I have to agree that it is the attitude of the people and not the importance, although I'm sure they all believe they are important. Everyone has their own personal emergency be it taking a flight or picking up. Because nothing has happened, they figure it never will. The war is somewhere else and not here. The public has become complacent. I find it funny that the TSA personnel where just standing around smoking and not taking any action either. Dave Johnson Posted March 11, 2008 9:49 PM
• Well, well, finally an article whose content is familiar to me! Having spent several years at a large airport prior to retirement, I feel that I have some grasp of the issues here. Primarily, it's the attitude, not the altitude. Simply put, (IMO), most Americans just don't care about security. They've thankfully never been robbed, attacked, or had family members obliterated in a 9/11 style event. When going to an airport, especially a large, busy one, like JFKIA, or Dulles, they just want to get on the plane, or pick up their friend/family member. Sadly, most people really don't care about others, and, in the confusion of the evening rush, even common sense fails. But the other problem here is law enforcement, if it's good, nothing may happen, and folks think there isn't any threat. Something blows up, and law enforcement gets burned! Go figure. US Customs Senior Inspector (Retired) Posted March 4, 2008 8:54 AM