Hahn OKs Security Review of LAX Plan

Bowing to pressure from critics, Mayor James K. Hahn agreed Friday to have the Rand Corp. conduct a comprehensive security analysis of his plans to modernize Los Angeles International Airport.

The decision came after months of lobbying by local and federal officials and a year after an initial study by the Santa Monica firm found that the plan would make passengers more vulnerable to terrorist attacks by concentrating them at a new check-in center near the San Diego Freeway.

The mayor’s announcement was the strongest signal yet of his willingness to compromise as his LAX modernization comes before the City Council, where many at City Hall consider it unlikely to win passage in its current form.

“Over the last couple of months, questions have arisen challenging the security at LAX,” Hahn said. “Now is the appropriate time to commission an analysis.”

Until now, Hahn has repeatedly resisted requests to have Rand review his $9-billion plan. But he folded late Thursday after City Council members threatened to hire an independent firm on their own to conduct a security analysis.

The late date of the study threatens to throw the already compressed planning process into disarray. Hahn’s LAX plan was expected to come before various city agencies in coming months, starting with a joint hearing between the airport and planning commissions May 24.

Hahn argued Friday that the Rand study could proceed at the same time as the hearings, saying the City Council had the authority to make changes in extensive environmental docu- ments for his plan that reflect conclusions in the analysis.

But critics said it made no sense to move forward with hearings on the mayor’s blueprint when it was under review and could require substantial revisions.

“We asked the mayor to address all of the concerns that we’ve raised prior to putting [environmental documents] forward,” said Mike Gordon, a former mayor of El Segundo and a vocal opponent of the mayor’s plan. “We still believe that is the best approach.”

Hahn released the final version of his 59-volume plan April 28 to charges that he failed to take into consideration 3,200 comments submitted on the proposal.

The mayor introduced his plan, known as Alternative D, in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said the primary goal was to improve security and safety, not make the airport larger. LAX is considered the state’s No. 1 terrorist target.

The plan would dramatically change the way passengers access LAX by rerouting private vehicles to a check-in center at Manchester Square, demolishing Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and replacing parking garages at the current facility with a new central terminal complex.

Rand’s analysis is expected to take months and early estimates placed its cost at around $500,000. The think tank won’t be able to start its work until the Airport Commission approves a contract for the study. Its next meeting is scheduled for June 7.

The analysis will set out to determine how the current facility is vulnerable to attacks with vehicle bombs, hand-held explosives, conventional firearms and weapons and cargo that isn’t screened, officials said. It will analyze whether different facets of Hahn’s plan would improve security and will recommend short- and long-term solutions to address security shortcomings both at the existing facility and in Hahn’s plan, officials said.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) commissioned the first Rand study, which was released May 14, 2003, saying that she wanted to know if the airport proposal would significantly increase security.

The eight-page study found that concentrating travelers at a remote facility could lead to more casualties if an attack occurred. It also said the plan’s proposed people-mover system could present a security risk because its limited capacity would make it difficult to evacuate the central terminal complex quickly.

In fact, the report suggested that a wholesale redesign of the airport was unnecessary to do a better job of protecting travelers, adding that that could be accomplished by dispersing crowds at ticket counters, security checkpoints and baggage kiosks that currently present highly visible targets.

Since that earlier study, critics -- led by City Council members Jack Weiss and Cindy Miscikowski -- have called on Hahn to order a more comprehensive analysis to determine whether his plan, and particularly the remote check-in center, would make the airport more secure. Skeptics asserted that the plan was too expensive and that several projects, such as demolishing Terminals 1, 2 and 3, were unnecessary.

In response, the mayor’s office hired San Diego-based Security Applications International Corp. The firm concluded that Hahn’s LAX plan would make the airport more secure by dispersing passengers among several remote facilities, including the check-in center, a consolidated rental car facility proposed for a corner of Parking Lot C and a transportation hub that would connect the Metro Green Line to an elevated train near the Century Freeway and Aviation Boulevard.

That wasn’t enough for several local and federal leaders, who held a series of closed-door meetings starting earlier this year and concluded that security aspects of the mayor’s LAX plan required additional study.

But when they asked Hahn to order a new analysis, he declined, prompting Harman to send a letter to 400 airport-area residents May 5 blasting the mayor for refusing to modify his plan.

“Any proposal that’s billed as ‘the enhanced safety and security alternative’ must ensure that every dollar spent on security is being used to its maximum benefit,” Harman wrote. “Mayor Hahn and [the city’s airport agency] have repeatedly refused to hire a reputable firm to perform a cost-benefit analysis examining security improvements at LAX, including the need for and location of an off-site passenger facility.”

Hahn was rejecting calls for further security studies through Thursday, when he sent a letter to Harman staunchly defending the security aspects of his plan and saying it passed muster with numerous local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

Hours later, Hahn called a news conference for Friday to announce that he would hire Rand to analyze his LAX plan. The mayor said he put aside his concerns about Rand’s initial study.

“A lot of the focus of the original study was not based on the final design of Alternative D,” Hahn said. “They recognized the limitation of that review and would like to do a study based on the current information.”