AMSTERDAM--During a whirlwind tour of security and defense operations in The Netherlands in April, security executives at Schiphol Airport outlined plans to increase the number of cameras and sensors over the next few years to be able to reduce the number of personnel on site.

There is a significant focus on technology at Schiphol. The airport currently has 1,000 cameras in place and plans to increase that number to between 3,000 and 4,000 (a mixture of converted analog and IP cameras) over the next few years. The plan is to cover the airport with cameras with other technologies such as video analytics, license plate recognition and facial recognition, for example. "The whole point is to use cameras, not people," said Miro Jerkovik, senior manager of security, research and development at Schiphol.

Approximately, 15 locations in the airport have L3 millimeter wave scanning machines in use. Although these products have met with criticism in the United States, Gunther von Adrichem, project manger of security, research and development, said it is rare that passengers opt out of being scanned with the machine.

Schiphol is an enormous facility with approximately 200 security checkpoints -- the majority of those are located in the international terminal. Since the airport is located on one level, there is no way of differentiating incoming and outgoing passengers. International passengers are first checked at customs for a valid passport and boarding pass and are then screened at the gate. Those flying within Europe undergo screening at a security checkpoint enter into a centralized area where screening is not necessary at the gate.

At these gate screening areas, five agents conduct behavior profiling interviews on each outgoing passenger. Questions depend on the traveler common questions include how long a person stayed in the area, how long, where did a person stay, what portable electronic devices did a passenger bring into the country and did they pack their own bags. As four agents speak directly with passengers, and screened passports, another profiler oversaw the whole operation, looking for suspicious behavior.

Even though this system seems to work well on the surface, Jerkovik was quick to point out that "you never know what's coming next ... you make a strategy and then you have to change it" as the risk landscape changes.

Gate screening might not always be part of the program at Schiphol -- von Adrichem noted that they are considering building a second level to distinguish departing and arriving passengers. This move, although costly, would enable the airport to move its international terminal to centralized security screening.

Partnership is also a key initiative at Schiphol. When the airport was given responsibility for airport security in 2003, it contracted with contract security companies to help assist in the process. But the world of security has changed since then. In 2008, the airport began to focus on "partnering" with these companies instead of "contracting" them. But the goal is still the same: "Effective, efficient security at a realistic cost."