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ICHS Fellow from European Union will study differences between U.S. and EU policies on air security
An authority in aviation security from the European Union has joined the Integrative Center for Homeland Security at Texas A&M University to conduct a study on the differences between how the United States and the EU approach terrorism in air travel.
John
Wilson represents the European Commission in Brussels. The commission proposes policies
and measures for the EU, and then ensures they are properly applied. For the
last three years, he has focused on aviation security as part of the EU’s
overall policy on domestic security.
The EU’s policies on transportation security shifted abruptly after the 9/11 attacks, Wilson said in a recent interview on the public radio program “Homeland Security: Inside & Out.” Lawmakers found that voluntary standards among the EU members were no longer enough, and replaced them with harmonized standards that are legally binding.
“You had to have high standards everywhere,” he said. “You couldn’t have weak links in the chain. At the same time, you needed to maintain free movement of people and of goods across frontiers, because that was one of the basic achievements of the European Union. If you compromise that, you compromise everything.”
As an ICHS Fellow, Wilson will study how the U.S. and the EU differ in their approaches to air security for both passengers and cargo. Wilson describes himself as “British, but nevertheless pro-European.” He studied economics and political science at Oxford. His work at Texas A&M is also supported by the European Union Center of Excellence at Texas A&M.