|  |  |  | IN FACT, since 
      Sept. 11, things have been looking up in one segment of the technology 
      sector. Israel’s grasp of terrorism’s grim realities gives it expertise 
      the rest of the world could use. Airline safety? The Israelis know it 
      cold. Secure facilities? They wrote the book. The country has firms that 
      do everything from airport protection to crisis management. And they have 
      these services to export. When Nasdaq 
      reopened the week after the attacks, there was widespread financial 
      carnage. But Magal Security Systems, an Israeli company, saw its share 
      price double that day. Best known for its “smart” fences, the company was 
      created in the 1960s in response to an Israel Defense Forces request for a 
      method of securing the country’s borders. Founded as a unit of Israel 
      Aircraft Industries, it was spun off and now has a market cap of $70 
      million and 2001 revenues estimated at $40 million.
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    |  | CEO Joel Feldschuh of Ganden 
      Security Services Solutions is marketing security techniques first 
      developed to protect Israeli airports and airlines 
 |  |  Now a company 
      called Ganden Security Services Solutions (GS-3) has started up to help 
      fight the newly escalated war. It boasts an all-star team of Israeli 
      aviation. The CEO is Gen. Joel Feldschuh, a former head of Israeli Air 
      Force intelligence during the gulf war who later served as CEO of El Al. 
      The advisory board includes Israel Ben Haim, the former general manager of 
      Ben-Gurion airport, and Nery Yarkoni, former general director of Israel’s 
      Civil Aviation Authority. All three men are former fighter pilots, and 
      along with Offer Einav, GS-3’s president and the former head of security 
      for El Al, they cover the bases from regulation to security to business 
      expertise.
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    |  | “We actually 
      have known for many, many years that if you do it the smart way, you can 
      deliver top security to the customers as a pleasant product.” — OFFER EINAV
 president, GS-3
 |  | GS-3 will sell techniques developed to protect Ben-Gurion, one of the most 
      secure airports in the world, as well as El Al. It will evaluate security 
      measures at airports, help teach airlines how to screen passengers 
      efficiently, train baggage checkers and develop new technologies for 
      aircraft infrastructure like cockpit doors. Einav says the company’s 
      procedures are relatively nonintrusive: “We actually have known for many, 
      many years that if you do it the smart way, you can deliver top security 
      to the customers as a pleasant product.” Feldschuh says, “Airline travel 
      is now down 20 to 30 percent worldwide. We feel that returning confidence 
      to airline travelers is a mission today. Air traffic, or the lack of it, 
      has an influence on the economy of the whole free world.” Israeli companies are known for acting quickly. 
      Beginning in mid-October, Maverick Defense Technologies developed a 
      machine that can check letters and packages for suspicious contents, such 
      as a powder. “It is meant for a small business, and it is extremely 
      simple,” says company CEO Dov Magen. The technology does not detect 
      specific agents such as anthrax. “It could be powdered soup,” he 
      acknowledges.
 Civil defense became 
      critical to Israeli planning after Iraq launched Scud missiles against Tel 
      Aviv during the gulf war. The Israeli government was hemmed in: under 
      American pressure, it had agreed not to retaliate by bombing Baghdad. The 
      country’s Home Front Command had the job of preparing it for further 
      attacks—including not just survival techniques but also ways of coping 
      with the fear of biological or chemical warfare. Among the command’s 
      innovations: new apartment buildings that include “safe” rooms in each 
      apartment, with blastproof windows that can be sealed against biological 
      and chemical agents.
 In 1998 several 
      former members of the Home Front Command formed a company called Israteam 
      to take advantage of expertise acquired during the gulf war. Not every 
      threat can be prepared for, “even by the richest country in the world,” 
      says Israteam VP Yori Sofrin, a former Air Force colonel. “We think we 
      have the ability to define the exact threat that you want to be prepared 
      for, the most probable one, then choose a special solution for that.” 
      Israteam has helped Turkey plan for disaster relief after earthquakes, and 
      is helping “a large city in Southeast Asia” prepare for possible bioterror 
      attacks. Company representatives met with city and state officials in New 
      York City, as well as federal and military officials, after the Sept. 11 
      attacks. “Since the first attack on the World Trade Center, the U.S. 
      decided to develop emergency plans for its cities,” says Sofrin. “Now it 
      has to ratchet them up.”
 However, Sofrin 
      insists, preparation for disaster is not enough. He recalls being asked at 
      a symposium on weapons of mass destruction sponsored by Jane’s, the 
      military publisher, “What is the right answer to terror?”
 And he answered, “The right way to fight terror is to 
      fight it. Protection is not enough.”
 Which 
      makes one wonder for a moment: wouldn’t it be grand if Magal’s fancy 
      perimeter fences could record not only a description of intruders, their 
      location, direction and speed, but also the contents of their hearts?
 “Ah, well,” says Magal chairman Even-Ezra, 
      “we live in a democracy. You can’t do that.”
 
 © 2001 Newsweek, 
      Inc.
 
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