Council Seeks Answers on LAX Security Lapse

Now that the city has revoked the badges of 285 federal airport security screeners for failing to submit their fingerprints or having criminal records, the City Council wants Los Angeles International Airport officials to explain their efforts to protect against terrorists.

Councilmen Jack Weiss and Dennis Zine asked Tuesday for a council briefing next week on how many fingerprint checks discovered criminal histories that the federal Transportation Security Administration missed when it hired the screeners.

Weiss, a former federal prosecutor, and Zine, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer, also asked for recommendations on reforms to make sure “there is no reoccurrence of this serious security lapse,” as well as information on how LAX operations would be affected by the loss of 10% of the security screeners.

“The failure of TSA to catch some of the red flags in these employees’ backgrounds is a real security risk for the city and the nation,” Weiss said.

He cited a report by The Times that a city-initiated fingerprinting program led to the disqualification of 29 federal screeners because of unacceptable criminal histories ranging from weapons charges to sexual assault, and that another 256 employees had their city badges revoked after they failed to have their fingerprints taken by a June 20 deadline.

Nico Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, said Tuesday that the federal screening process was effective at identifying problem employees.

He noted that many of the workers who had their city airport access badges revoked were on military or medical leave, which would allow them to recover their badges by going through city fingerprinting when they return.