LAX shooting prompts call for armed guards in airports

Aug 1, 2002 12:00 PM

           

An attack at the El Al Airlines ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport on July 4 “exposed a glaring vulnerability in airport security,” according to a member of the FAA Security Advisory Committee.

“There is presently nothing to prevent terrorists or unbalanced individuals from bringing automatic weapons into airports and killing dozens, especially at crowded airline ticket counters,” says Paul Hudson, executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project (ACAP) and member of the advisory committee. “The July 4 LAX shootings exposed this glaring vulnerability in airport security. At the very least, national guardsmen, police or armed private security officers are needed at the major U.S. and international airports, especially those with El Al and U.S. airline ticket counters.”

Hudson goes on to say that armed security is needed for at least three reasons:

• To deter would-be assailants who know that that they would not survive such an attack;

• To re-assure travelers that there actually is security against armed attacks in airports; and

• To minimize loss of life in case of an attack.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, armed National Guardsmen patrolled airports on a constant basis, but most of those security measures have been withdrawn as the threat of attack waned. Security workers at airports now are generally unarmed.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a statement in response.

“This incident, even if isolated and regardless of motive, emphasizes that we cannot be complacent about any of the security measures that we put in place at our airports and at the other modes of transportation,” the statement reads. “TSA must continually re-assess its security configuration and have our full force of both uniformed law enforcement officers and undercover criminal investigators in both the sterile and non-sterile areas of our airports and other transportation facilities. Had this event occurred at another airline counter without armed security guards, the situation unfortunately would have been worse.”

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