Ahead of the line

Because of efforts like these, Transportation Security Administration administrator John Pistole recently called Logan “one of the best, most secure airports in the country.’’

The security at Logan — and across the nation — has evolved dramatically since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Before then, the bulk of security at US airports was provided by metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs, security lines were manned by private contractors, and checked bags were loaded onto planes without being scanned for explosives. Today, with the US government in charge of security checkpoints, passengers have to remove their shoes and are sometimes subjected to pat-downs and X-rays that reveal their naked bodies, and all checked luggage — and cargo traveling on passenger planes — is now screened.

Logan, which was heavily scrutinized after 9/11, has gone above and beyond what is required by the government, including instituting a daily 8:30 a.m. security meeting and installing concrete barriers in front of the terminals and shatter-proof glass in the windows. In addition to the 1,100 TSA workers at Logan, several hundred employees are dedicated solely to security at the airport. And Massport said it considers all 14,000 airport workers to be part of its security team, with everyone from gate agents to bus drivers to janitors trained by the State Police to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior as part of its Logan Watch program.

“There isn’t any part of the wide list of vul nerabilities that we had in 2001 that hasn’t been addressed to some degree,’’ said George Naccara, TSA’s federal security director at Logan, which in 2004 was recognized by the trade publication Air Safety Week as the inaugural winner of its Exceptional Performance in Airport Security award.