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“When I come in Monday morning, I know who’s been charged over the weekend. This allows us to then pull those files and re-take a look at the security profiles to determine if anything has changed.

“We’re trying to protect the transportation infrastructure, the employees that work here, the users and the surrounding communities against the inside threat,” he said.

The increasing breadth and depth of security screening, however, also brings accusations of unfair over-reach, with a wide definition of what is a threat and narrow tolerance for someone explaining it away.

In this dispute the stakes are high: the vulnerability of our sensitive air and sea ports on one hand and the livelihood and privacy of the workers.

Terrorism and organized crime are the program’s priority targets, but a wide range of activities raise red flags, even shaking hands with a member of the Hells Angels in a bar.

Transport Canada’s Security Screening Program started in 1986 in response to the Air India bombing. In 1985, a bomb concealed in luggage on a flight from Montreal destroyed a jetliner over the Atlantic, killing all 329 people aboard.

The program has evolved substantially since.

“The purpose of the program is to try to prevent unlawful acts of interference with aviation. And there is also a marine clearance program,” said Morgan.

Air and seaports have long been key transit points for smuggling and sensitive targets for international terrorists. Access by employees have been exploited to further criminal aims. It’s what Moran calls the “inside threat.”