Federal security chief at LAX unexpectedly steps down
Larry Fetters, a former LAPD deputy chief who had been federal security director for Los Angeles International Airport since 2003, has unexpectedly retired from the high-profile job, officials said Friday.
A spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration said his retirement was effective Feb. 6.
The move was a surprise to some at LAX, and a spokeswoman did not offer a reason for Fetters’ departure.
The resignation comes a month after the arrests of three TSA employees in connection with an investigation into counterfeit parking passes at an LAX employee parking lot. During the probe, investigators found a videotape that allegedly showed TSA employees using illegal drugs.
One source with the federal government said Fetters had been planning his exit for some time. But others were caught by surprise by his sudden retirement and said it had not come up in either meetings or recent discussions.
“Fetters has done an exceptional job leading our largest field location and has made TSA in Los Angeles a wonderful partner in the aviation security arena,” said TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino. “The TSA wishes him well.”
Marshall E. McClain, who heads the union representing the 425-member LAX police force, said he was shocked by the resignation, which he said leaves a void at the airport that is all the more disconcerting given that it has been identified as a major terrorist target.
“It’s very concerning to the airport police officers that an identified terrorist target is [without a] security director,” McClain said. “It’s compounded by the fact that TSA has been without a leader on the national level for 13 months.”
Fetters brought a wealth of law enforcement experience to his work at the airport. He spent 31 years in the Los Angeles Police Department, playing a key role in drafting the department’s police expansion plan under former Mayor Richard Riordan.
Fetters retired in 1994 and subsequently served as director of security for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. That year, he also applied to be LAPD chief. The job eventually went to Bernard C. Parks.
Fetters also was considered as one of half a dozen candidates to be interim chief after Parks left.
Fetters was named federal security director at LAX in September 2003.
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