A Fragile Net at LAX

He had no radio. He was not trained as a security officer. His job was to push passengers in wheelchairs, as he later testified to the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners.

But two Saturdays ago, Perfecto Adalid, 75, an employee of a private firm that provides security for United Airlines at LAX, was told to guard a checkpoint leading from an elevator onto the airfield.

Three hours into Adalid’s shift, a man without a security badge got out of a van and headed toward the elevator. Adalid, who said he was afraid to leave his post to use the phone, let the man pass, wrongly assuming that, because he was coming from the airfield, he must have clearance.

A flight attendant who witnessed Adalid letting the man pass called airport police, triggering an alert. As a precaution, 7,000 people were evacuated while three United terminals were searched. Nearly 30 flights were canceled and several inbound planes were diverted to hangars until they got the “all clear.”

That incident, the second major security breach at LAX in as many months, ended harmlessly enough--if you don’t count the major inconveniences encountered by the travelers or the big bucks lost by the airline. But it does illustrate how one weak link--airport officials say Adalid was grossly negligent--can unravel an intricate multi-agency effort designed to keep passengers safe.

Monday’s crash of an Alaska Airlines MD-83 off Ventura County again spotlighted the issue of aircraft safety. Security at the nation’s airports represents another vital element in trying to ensure that passengers are secure while they are in the air.

In light of the issue’s rising importance, officials at Los Angeles International Airport are constantly reviewing all security procedures, said airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles. At the same time, some elected officials and others familiar with LAX have criticized the training and support given to the people responsible for screening passengers and baggage.

“There seems to be a continuing problem,” said City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who held hearings on airline security companies in 1997. “We’ve had a whole series of well-publicized issues in the last couple of years where someone goes through . . . and they evacuate the terminal.”

The nation’s airports were shaken by a federal inspector general’s report released in December that found lax security at airports across the country. For four months last year, a group of federal investigators fanned out across the country and worked to sneak into restricted areas at a handful of the nation’s airports.

Often Walked In Without Impediment

They were disturbingly successful. Two-thirds of the time--117 out of 173 attempts--inspectors were able to walk into areas of airports that are supposed to be accessible only to those with security clearances, clearly displayed photo identification cards, or personal identification codes. Sometimes they were even able to get onto planes.

Mammoth Los Angeles International Airport was not one of the airports put to the test by those investigators, Castles said. But airport security remains a high priority, she said.

In addition, airport officials are actively planning for this summer’s Democratic National Convention, when thousands of elected officials, delegates and media representatives will pass through the airport.

But just because they are furiously working on security issues does not mean airport officials can talk about them. FAA regulations permit airport and law enforcement officials to discuss only what passengers can see as they pass through the airport, according to Mitch Barker, an FAA representative.

And even then, they don’t want to reveal too much.

“Locally, we would rather not have anyone talk about security,” said Matt Triaca, spokesman for United Airlines. “We take security issues very seriously. Obviously, we risk compromising a number of procedures if we talk about them.”

Even the tip of the security iceberg that passengers see is a huge operation, shouldered by a host of federal, state and local agencies.

The airport, which opened for commercial flights in December 1946, has become the world’s third busiest, bigger than some of the cities its planes fly to.

Last year, more than 62 million passengers passed through the airport to and from planes. More than 90 million others came to pick them up or drop them off. More than 50,000 people come to the airport to work every day.

It’s a difficult balance, making sure all these people can go about their business without too much delay, while at the same time keeping out terrorists, thieves, drug dealers and others unwelcome in the nation’s skies.

The two biggest security operations are run by the LAX police, and by the individual airlines, Castles said. Each of the 119 air carriers that fly out of LAX is responsible for making sure everything--passengers, suitcases and cargo--that gets on its planes is secure.

But you won’t find airline employees operating X-ray machines, sifting through salads and peering into suitcases. They leave those tasks, as well as the operation of a “sniffer” device, which can detect explosives, and a luggage screener, which can analyze the contents of suitcases, to a number of private security agencies.

In June, the airport started a publicity campaign, dubbed “Challenge Charlie,” to encourage employees to aggressively stop and question anyone without a badge. A team of airline officials without badges roves around the airport, handing out prizes to those who stop them and red warning cards to those who don’t, Castles said.

In addition, airport and FAA officials send undercover inspectors out regularly to make sure everyone, from pilots to food delivery people, complies.

Anyone who fails the FAA’s tests can be fined thousands of dollars, and the employer can be slapped with even heftier fines, Castles said.

LAX’s police department of nearly 600, including about 400 sworn officers, is responsible for securing everything else--all the doors leading to the airfield, as well as many ramps leading down to planes.

The Los Angeles Police Department also has an office at the airport with a phalanx of detectives and a bomb squad to investigate suspicious baggage.

The United States Customs Office, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration also have presences at the airport. They provide security for visiting dignitaries and investigate drug smuggling, credit card fraud, counterfeit currency and illegal immigrants.

They, along with the rest of the approximately 41,000 people who have access to the secured regions of the airport, carry computerized badges and have memorized identification codes, Castles said.

Incidents Triggered Security Efforts

LAX has been at the forefront in developing new security systems, in part because of a series of highly publicized incidents.

In late 1998, the airport came up with a system of background checks that is now used at most of the nation’s airports. Basically, the airport makes the person who hires an employee responsible for verifying the employee’s background, Castles said.

“If one of my employees robs a bank and hijacks a plane, they’re gonna come back to me and say, ‘How did this person get hired?’ ”

But no system is perfect. And mistakes happen.

Most of the publicized mistakes at LAX in the last few years have involved breakdowns with private security firm screeners and other employees, such as Adalid, who was employed by Argenbright security company.

Celeste Bottorff, spokeswoman for Argenbright, said last month’s security breach was the guard’s fault, and Adalid, an immigrant from the Philippines who speaks English haltingly, was fired from the job he had held for five years.

Airport police evacuated terminals 6, 7, and 8 and searched the airport for two hours.

But the intruder got away. Airport officials later discovered that he was an employee of US Airways who had left his badge at home.

Bottorff said it was ludicrous that Adalid could have thought he was supposed to check the badges only of people going out of the elevator. She pointed out that Adalid stopped the man but then let him go.

Airport Commissioner Miguel Contreras, executive secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, has long advocated better pay and training for security workers such as Adalid. He supports a campaign being waged for some employees to become unionized.

About Adalid, Contreras said: “It’s unfortunate that this elderly gentleman who has five years working at close to minimum wage is Argenbright’s scapegoat.”

John Agoglia, president of the Airport Commission, said he is withholding judgment on the incident until he sees a full report.

Argenbright is the largest of five companies at LAX that contract with airlines to provide security. Though a city law says all airport employers must pay a living wage of $8.76 per hour, the security companies have argued that they are exempt from this rule. Most of the preboard screeners and passenger assistance workers earn minimum wage. Those working United Airlines’ three terminals, such as Adalid, started earning the living wage last fall.

Most employees at Argenbright and other security firms at LAX receive only a day of training before being put on the job, according to Joanne Lo, a union organizer who is trying to organize the screeners.

Last month, in the wake of the inspector general’s report, the FAA called for better training and uniform standards for the nation’s X-ray screeners. The agency also proposed installing a system on all X-ray machines to test employees while they are on the job. Employees who fail to react appropriately to the tests could be assigned further training. Companies whose employees consistently failed the tests could be reprimanded.

Other security breaches at LAX in the past few months have involved people who ran, perhaps unwittingly, from airport security checkpoints.

Last December, airport officials shut down the Southwest Airlines Terminal for several hours after a man grabbed his laptop computer and ran away from a security checkpoint instead of turning his computer on so officials could check it. Another evacuation occurred last August.

Most security breaches turn out to be harmless mistakes, Castles said.

The same is true for most of the luggage that airport police investigate as suspicious. Over the years, according to Airport Police Lt. Gary Green, the bomb squad has blown up suitcases full of avocados and strawberries and, in one horrible instance, a box full of kittens.

The hardest part of working in security, said Jennifer Brown, a three-year veteran of United Airlines’ security checkpoint, is the stress of angry passengers who do not wish to be searched.

“We are here being abused, all day long,” she said, adding that she sometimes wishes she could tell passengers: “If a terrorist is on that plane with you, it’s you who is going to be blown up. We will be at home.”

Brown said she had been on the job less than a week when she spotted her first handgun.

That was three years ago. Brown said she is still amazed that she caught the firearm. “Unless you were really looking, you might have missed it,” she said. “I was really new. So I was really cautious.”

Since then, she has become a supporter of better training and pay for the hundreds of preboard screeners who operate the X-ray stations at LAX.

“It’s very serious,” she said. “I go home at 3:30. I don’t want to turn on the evening news and see that a plane blew up.”

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LAX: Then and Now

Rising next to a Mission-style structure, a single building served as the terminal and control tower at Los Angeles Municipal Airport in the early 1930s. The facility, known as Mines Field, was the forerunner of today’s Los Angeles International Airport. During World War II, the airfield was used by the military. LAX has been used for commercial airline flights since December 1946. Today’s LAX handles 62 million passengers a year, making it the world’s fourth-busiest airport. About 90 million people go to the airport annually to see passengers off or pick them up. LAX handles about three-quarters of the passengers and the air cargo traffic in Southern California.

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Other facts and figures

Terminals: nine

Air carriers operating at LAX: 120

People who work at LAX: 50,000

Area of airport: 3,600 acres

Length of four runways: 8 miles

Number of gates: 137

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Source: Los Angeles World Reports