PASSENGER profiling looks like a sensible way out of the crisis over airport security that threatens the future of British air travel. With too many passengers and too few security staff to body-search each one and comb through their hand luggage, it seems logical to focus attention on the group most likely to be suicide bombers: young Asian men. If air travel becomes unpalatable for sunshineseeking families and businessmen for whom time is money, then, without igniting a single device, the terrorists will have scored a significant victory. Customs and immigration staff already use their discretion in deciding which disembarking passengers to quiz. Why not apply similar discretion to passengers prior to departure, as suggested by the former head of Scotland Yard, Lord Stevens?

There are several sound reasons why we should hesitate before adopting this idea. The most obvious is that those who mastermind terrorist operations are constantly devising new ways of operating and could exploit what amounts to racial and religious stereotyping to their advantage. Would passenger profiling have picked up shoe bomber Richard Reid or Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh? Inevitably, passenger profiling will be viewed by certain minorities as racist. During the IRA's mainland bombing campaign, merely having an Irish name or accent was likely to get one into trouble. Applied crudely, security measures based on a person's appearance or religious beliefs risk alienating the very people whose co-operation is essential to locating and arresting those with mass murder in mind. That is why appearance-led, as opposed to intelligence-led, security could be dangerously counterproductive,

as several leading Muslims warned yesterday. Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Ali Desai said it risked creating an offence of "travelling while Asian", an idea reinforced by formerGuantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg, who revealed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday that he had avoided travelling from London by air because of the current climate of fear.

It is important to remember in this climate that since 9/11more than 700 people have been arrested in Britain as terrorist suspects, the majority of them young Asian males but most have been released without charge and only a handful have been convicted. No wonderMuslim communities feel victimised, and passenger profiling could only increase those feelings. Ameasure of profiling, based on information gathering on particular individuals, is not only sensible but advisable. It makes sense to scrutinise those with an unusual travel pattern or acting suspiciously, but this must be combined with other measures to make passengers safer. Antiquated X-ray machines should be abandoned in favour of already-proven technologies capable of detecting a wider range of explosives. Airports need more security staff and more attention should be paid to vetting all airside employees. Perimeter security could

be improved. Ultimately, technology is no substitute for individual vigilance and reliable intelligence. For that, the British government needs to start treating Muslims as part of the solution, not part of the problem.