LAX Security Challenge Is in Plain Sight

Retired Rear Adm. David M. Stone had just sat down to meet with airport executives on his first day at Los Angeles International Airport when the call came: Terminal No. 2 was being evacuated after screeners detected what appeared to be the ingredients for a bomb in a passenger’s bag.

Stone hurried to the terminal as 500 passengers spilled out onto the sidewalk. He watched as traffic police shut down the upper-level roadway. He acknowledged LAPD bomb-squad technicians as they arrived to inspect the bag.

About 90 minutes later, it was discovered that the suspicious items were nothing more than several large Tupperware containers filled with jelly and packed next to a radio, some batteries and a bottle of nail polish.

Stone, who retired from the Navy this month to work for the federal agency charged with revamping security at the nation’s airports, couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to the challenges he’ll face as the top security official at LAX.

“If you shut down the road, it impacts every other terminal,” Stone said while recounting the July 15 incident in an interview last week. “It was educational for me, right off the bat, to see the complexities of how everything is interrelated.”

In his new role as LAX’s federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration, Stone must not only work with airport officials to carry out evacuations, but must ensure that the city agency operating the airport meets daunting deadlines set in an aviation security bill approved by Congress last fall.

He must hire 2,000 people by Nov. 19 to work at screening checkpoints and operate security equipment. He must figure out by Dec. 31 how to cram dozens of huge machines into inadequate airport lobby space, and how to reconfigure security checkpoints to screen all checked baggage. And he must draft protocols that allow officials both to respond to threats and to reduce inconvenient evacuations during the busy holiday travel season.

“He faces one of the greatest challenges in the country at LAX,” said Paul Bollinger, a vice president of HNTB, an architectural and engineering firm that specializes in airports.

The nation’s third-busiest airport, LAX handles twice as many bags per day--about 100,000--as comparable facilities such as Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which checks about 55,000 pieces. LAX officials estimate that they need 200 trace machines and 40 explosives detection machines to meet Transportation Security Administration deadlines--more than twice as many as requested by facilities such as San Francisco International Airport.

Stone’s peers in the Navy say he’s up to the challenge. They say he is a highly regarded leader, as comfortable working with enlisted personnel as with other commanders.

“He’s an exceptional leader and he’s combat-hardened,” said Vice Adm. Michael Mullen, who was Stone’s boss when they worked at the Pentagon for the secretary of the Navy. “He also has a wonderful legacy of taking care of his people.”

Lived in Many Places

Stone’s tours of duty during 28 years in the Navy included deployment in the Red Sea, where he was a squadron commander with the Eisenhower Battle Group in support of Operation Desert Shield. He also commanded a group of ships deployed to assist the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the Mediterranean.

An Illinois native, he moved 20 times during his Navy career to places as varied as Bahrain; Italy; Seattle; Key West, Fla.; and Charleston, S.C. Stone, who turned 50 this month, married a Navy chaplain’s daughter 25 years ago and is an ardent basketball fan, counting the Lakers among his favorite teams.

Stone is perhaps best known publicly for the role he played last year on the court of inquiry that investigated the collision of the Greeneville, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, and the Ehime Maru, a Japanese trawler on which nine were killed.

“I sat in a courtroom and saw grieving families of those on the Japanese fishing boat and grieving families of those who were being evaluated,” he said. “I knew it was embarrassing to many individuals that they didn’t do the things they needed to do, but the commanding officer needed to be held accountable for his performance.”

In a wide-ranging interview, Stone spoke often about accountability. Since the Sept. 11 skyjackings, he said, it has become particularly important that airport officials take responsibility for the crucial role they play in securing the nation’s aviation system.

Standing in his office in the old air traffic control tower--he’ll move to Los Angeles from Alexandria, Va., in the next few weeks--Stone gestured toward a board detailing management principles that he calls his “three ships”: leadership, partnership and friendship. He said he lives by those tenets.

Stone won’t have to go it alone at LAX. He’ll eventually have a staff, and can rely on several companies contracted by the Transportation Security Administration to assist airports in meeting federal deadlines.

He also has a head start on security directors at other major airports because LAX officials have $5 million worth of reports from consultants that detail how best to remodel the antiquated facility to accommodate new personnel and equipment.

LAX is not one of 39 airports that sent a letter to the security agency earlier this year, asking for an extension of deadlines.

Los Angeles officials have declared that the city’s airports--including Ontario International Airport--will comply with the winter dates.

City officials expect that it will take nearly $25 million to modify 42-year-old LAX to meet the agency mandates by the end of the year. How much of that will be reimbursed by the federal government remains unclear, especially because legislation that would provide the agency with additional funding has been tied up in Congress.

Until that money is approved, Stone will have to wait for the agency to order and ship equipment to screen bags at LAX. He’s also had to wait until today to begin accepting applications for screeners.

Lengthy Hiring Process

This hiring process is expected to take weeks because of time-consuming background checks and the difficulty other airports have encountered in recruiting qualified candidates.

Stone said he wants to retain screeners who now work at LAX if they meet agency standards, but as many as 40% are not U.S. citizens--a requirement under the new aviation security law.

For now, Stone said, he’s eager to take on the role of coordinating security at LAX--to protect not only passengers and aircraft, but also the airport itself.

“One thing I’m very much focused on, from Day 1, is the physical security of LAX. I want to make sure I understand as quickly as I can what the gaps are, and work with folks here to plug those gaps,” he said.

That goal is particularly important to city leaders who called for the streamlining of law enforcement efforts after an Egyptian immigrant killed two people in the Tom Bradley International Terminal on the Fourth of July.

The gunman was shot and killed by an El Al Israel Airline security guard.

The airport police department, LAPD and FBI all participated in securing the airport after the shooting--leaving some to speculate that there wasn’t a clear chain of command.

“I’m glad he wants to take a lead role out there on security,” said Mayor James K. Hahn.

“We need someone who is going to be proactive in making sure that the federal government knows that the resource needs are huge at LAX,” Hahn said.

Airport sources also pointed to Stone’s understanding that he must balance security with convenience at LAX--one of the nation’s crucial transportation hubs.

“When I read that 27% of folks aren’t flying because of the hassle factor, that equates to a significant economic impact to the airlines and the community,” he said. “So I need to ensure we put in place screeners and security personnel that are going to work hard to reduce the hassle factor.”

Stone said he had taken the high-profile position because he wants “the opportunity to make a difference in the war on terrorism.”

“My background is in intelligence and I’m well aware of what the threat is, and it’s a serious threat to our country,” he said. “There are people who are intent on doing harm, and in the past they have demonstrated intent to do harm at LAX. That thought is always on my mind. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to come here.”