Report recommends steps to toughen LAX defenses

[question everything]

Los Angeles Daily News

Report recommends steps to toughen LAX defenses

By Rick Orlov
Staff Writer

Friday, September 24, 2004 - Los Angeles International Airport is an attractive target for terrorists and a series of steps need to be taken quickly to increase LAX security, the Rand Corp. said Friday in a report commissioned by the city.

In the first phase of recommending current and future LAX security needs, the researchers said some of the answers are simple and obvious -- such as reducing crowded check-in lines.

Other steps, however, would carry costs of more than $152 million a year -- screening all airliners' cargo, increasing vehicle checks and other steps to protect LAX from attacks.

(snip)

Many of the key recommendations involve reducing the density of passenger crowds at the airport -- a factor that would require the airlines to have more ticket agents and skycaps and the federal Transportation Security Agency to hire more screeners. Efforts to contact TSA officials for comment Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

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http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20954~2425311,00.html#

Rick Orlov, [phone] [e-mail]