US lawmakers eye attack at Los Angeles airport
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Members of Congress and local officials were meeting Friday at Los Angeles International Airport to discuss lessons learned from an attack last fall that killed a security officer and injured three other people.
The hearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security's subcommittee on transportation security was convened after the airport operator issued a report last week highlighting major lapses in the emergency response to the shooting.
Subcommittee members toured the terminal where the attack occurred before beginning to their discussion that also will include the findings of a Transportation Security Administration report this week reviewing security at nearly 450 airports nationwide.
Paul Ciancia is accused of targeting TSA officers in his attack, killing Officer Gerardo Hernandez and wounding two other officers and a passenger. The Pennsville, N.J., native has pleaded not guilty to 11 federal charges, including murder of a federal officer. Hernandez was the TSA's first line-of-duty death.
The TSA report made 14 recommendations to improve airport security, including more training on active shooter response; technological upgrades such as a greater number and more high-tech panic alarms at airports; and an armed law enforcement presence at checkpoints and ticket counters during peak hours.
The report by Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX, found that lapses in communication and coordination led to delays in responding to the gunman and providing aid to victims.
The Associated Press earlier reported that Hernandez did not receive medical aid until 33 minutes after he was shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead after surgeons worked for an hour at a hospital. A coroner's release later said he was likely dead within two to five minutes.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, whose area includes LAX and who planned to be present Friday, called the airport's findings on the emergency response an embarrassment.
TSA Administrator John Pistole was scheduled to testify at the hearing along with the airport's Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey, LAX Police Chief Patrick Gannon and J. David Cox Sr., national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 45,000 TSA officers.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who also will be present, said in a statement that he has lingering concerns about TSA's ability to communicate with emergency responders, despite $13 billion spent since 9/11 to improve inter-agency communications. The airport's review noted that multiple command posts were set up and officers from different agencies couldn't communicate easily by radio.
Airports are run by local operators, and because each airport is different, each is responsible for creating its own security plan that must be approved by TSA. The agency has general guidelines that airport plans must meet. Airport differences mean there's also a lack of consistency in security provided to TSA officers, who aren't armed.
The TSA review found that officers were concerned about their safety and wanted more done to improve their security.
The TSA national union has pushed for the agency to create its own unit of armed law enforcement to ensure the security of its officers at airports. Cox said in a statement that the two reports issued on the LAX shooting and airport security "made it clear that the security processes and systems at checkpoints nationwide are fundamentally broken."
Both reports note systemic flaws, but neither assigned responsibility to any person for failures on Nov. 1, the day of the attack.
The airport's review also didn't mention an earlier AP report that found the two armed airport police officers assigned to Terminal 3 had left for breaks and were not inside the terminal when the shooting started. One had left for the bathroom in the next terminal over, and the other was headed to lunch.
The officers didn't inform dispatchers as required by department policy. And because they were out of position, an airline contractor alerted airport police dispatch about the attack from his cellphone. The terminal was left without any armed officer for nearly 3.5 minutes as the gunman advanced with a high-powered rifle targeting TSA officers.
LAX Police Chief Gannon said he agreed with the TSA recommendations and that his officers are already highly visible in and around the security checkpoint and ticket areas. He said peak hours vary and the department would keep an eye on such times to provide a highly visible police presence as necessary.
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Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams
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Read the reports:
Los Angeles World Airports: http://bit.ly/1gvJPnx
Transportation Security Administration: http://1.usa.gov/1rHFcLw
