European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes sunday april 27, 1986 guards at the Entrance to Check in counters Atsch Pechat Airport in Vienna in Wake of stepped up Security after terrorist attack there last december. Heightened vigilance at Airport gateways to Middle East a photo by Ralph Blumenthal new York times e very half hour or so maintenance workers empty the ashtrays and trash canst the International Airport in Rome. They Are looking for bombs. At Fiumicini Airport As at other key gateways to the Middle East vigilance is the watchword. The heightened Security measures Date largely to a series of terrorist attacks last year but they have been further stepped up since the american air raids on Libya this month. At Fiumicini As elsewhere american  airline managers responsible for Security say there have been vast improvements As confirmed by periodic inspections by the Federal aviation administration and International aviation groups. But they stress that Security is not an absolute but rather a series of shifting responses to threats that Are believed to exist. An arriving visitor s first encounter with the eternal City for example is Likely to be a policeman with a sub machine gun and a sentry dog. In particular police teams now patrol the terminal Entrance where four terrorists walked in on dec. 27, pulling weapons from their bags and killing 14 people in a Hail of gunfire and grenade explosions. Three of the terrorists were also killed. Nevertheless perhaps paradoxically an air of quiet normalcy pervades the Airport. In the departure concourse israeli Security men sip Coffee at a fast food stand and travellers make last minute purchases at the shops while the Green uniformed police troops silently go about their patrols. One Hundred percent Security is impossible said Steve Forte general manager of trans world airlines in Italy. But he said that particularly since the attack in december measures have increased to such an extent it s not even possible to compare them to  the Cairo Airport by the same Token has begun charging a nominal fee for Access to the Airport grounds in order to minimize the masses of Well wishers seeing off or welcoming passengers. And in Israel Long considered a Paragon of Security everyone seeking to enter the Tel Aviv Airport is stopped at a checkpoint on the Access Road and is scrutinized before being permitted to continue to the terminal where the traveler faces an interrogation and often an exhaustive Luggage search and frisk. Inevitably however lapses still occur. And officials acknowledge that a zealot who is determined to die in a suicide attack May be almost impossible to Stop. In Rome the Airport director Raffaele Casagrande said authorities had grown concerned about the possibility of attacks on departing or approaching planes from portable missile launchers a Specter that american officials say first appeared in embattled Rhodesia. In september 1978 and february 1979, according to the government in Power in Rhodesia at the time guerrillas firing portable soviet made Sa-7 missiles downed Viscount airliners As they left an Airport in the Northern part of the country with a total loss of 107 people on both planes. Casagrande said helicopters and ground patrols were monitoring Airport approach routes to guard against such missile attacks in Rome. The Security gains officials say fall into a number of key areas among them Airport and airline officials now carefully match Luggage to passengers to make certain that a bomb is not slipped aboard in an orphan suitcase. Many carriers now Start checking up on passengers with reservations Well before the flight. Those who fit a terrorist profile Are subject to special scrutiny. All major airports now employ duplicate checks of baggage and travel papers to assure that if a terrorist manages to evade one Security search there will still be others. Many airlines moreover have insisted on augmenting the Airport s Security measures with their own. Controls have been tightened Over workers with Access to aircraft and Airport Security zones. Workers commonly carry identification badges and May Only enter planes under the direct supervision of superiors to avoid the planting of explosives or weapons aboard. The backgrounds and even political leanings of the workers Are also frequently subject to investigation. Probably the biggest single change has been the widespread new awareness of the need to maintain tight Airport Security an Awakening attributed to a string of terrorist attacks that began with the hijacking of Twa flight 814 out of Athens last june. The most recent incidents were the bombing april 3 of another Twa flight Between Cairo Rome and Athens and the recent discovery of a bomb secreted in the baggage of an apparently unwitting Irish woman who was about to Board an Al Al flight for Israel at Heathrow Airport. The concern of National officials has been increased by the effect of the terrorism on tourism. Vacation bookings from the United states have plummeted and losses of hundreds of millions of dollars to local economies from Britain to Israel Are foreseen for this year. Many of the measures to heighten Security have to do with baggage. A passenger arriving in Rome finds his attache Case the object of special attention by a Security guard who raps the fining sharply in several places apparently to test for a false Bottom or lid that could conceal explosives. At the Athens Airport individual airlines also sometimes set up tables in front of the Check in counter where passengers must open their baggage for inspection. Al Al Security has Long been legendary and officials will not say anything at All about it. The most an airline spokesman would respond to queries was have a Nice time in  however it has been reliably reported in the past that Al Al planes Are fitted with Armor plated baggage holds to protect against bomb damage and that they carry devices under their wings to deflect the courses of surface to air misses. In addition the Tel Aviv Airport and Al Al operations outside Israel screen passengers extensively requiring departing passengers to be at the Airport at least two hours before Takeoff. Each passenger is individually interviewed by a Security officer equipped with a pre Analysed list of passengers. The officer asks for example whether the traveler packed his or her own bag or accepted any parcels for delivery for someone else. The officers also