In L.A., ‘You Can’t Protect Everything’

Five years ago, Los Angeles awoke to the horrifying images of foreign terrorists killing thousands of people in a coordinated attack.

Today, with tens of millions of dollars in new security measures in place throughout this region, few counter-terrorism experts would dispute that the nation’s second-biggest city and most populated county are better prepared than ever to combat the sort of destruction that hit New York and the Washington, D.C., area.

But better might not be enough.

Bioterrorism attacks. Suicide bombings. Even an assault on a commercial jetliner using a shoulder-fired missile. All have been analyzed by counter-terrorism officials, often in tabletop exercises or computer simulations that inevitably raise new questions and concerns about whether such attacks might occur.

And where.

Experts note that few places in the world can compete with Los Angeles for potential targets, both substantial and symbolic. Beyond the ports and airports, there are oil refineries and power plants, sports stadiums and skyscrapers, movie studios and amusement parks. And apart from the potential year-round targets, there are the annual events like the Academy Awards and the Rose Parade that draw huge crowds and a worldwide television audience.

“I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I think the scheme of threats out there is now of a proportion that we have not even begun to fathom,” said Erroll Southers, former deputy director of the California Office of Homeland Security.

“We have to start thinking about the unimaginable because before Sept. 11, who would have thought that several thousand Americans could be killed in one day by an attack less than a nuclear explosion,” said Southers, now associate director of the Homeland Security Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events at USC.

The key to preventing such attacks, according to terrorism expert Lt. John Sullivan of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, “is always understanding how a vulnerability translates to a threat.”

“You can’t protect everything all the time because if you try, you protect nothing,” said Sullivan, who 10 years ago helped launch a local multi-agency Terrorism Early Warning Center that has since been replicated in 26 cities nationwide.

In recent weeks, the nation’s first Joint Regional Intelligence Center opened in Norwalk with a goal of coordinating anti-terrorism efforts among more than 200 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

At the FBI, more resources have been poured into information gathering and sharing that information quickly with other federal, state and local agencies.

Before Sept. 11, the Los Angeles FBI office, responsible for a seven-county region, had one Joint Terrorism Task Force. Today, it has four to blanket the region, which has a population of 18 million.

Steve Tidwell, who heads the local FBI division, sees the FBI as “one link in the chain, now national and global, that has been formed since 9/11” to fight terrorism through a combined effort of law enforcement, public health agencies, emergency services and the private sector.

“There is an urgency among agents and task force officers that comes with being as vigilant as they need to be ... to protect the citizens of Los Angeles,” Tidwell said.

By anyone’s account, it is a daunting goal. It is also one that Los Angeles was pursuing long before 2001.

“Before 9/11, Los Angeles was probably better prepared than the average city,” said Jack Riley, Rand Corp. homeland security expert.

The failed millennium plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year’s Eve 1999. The existence of the county’s terrorism analysis center. Even the region’s experience with regional disasters. These made Los Angeles more aware of the possibility of terrorism and what to do if it occurs, he said.

And more recently, Riley said, he has been impressed with Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton’s commitment to improving counter-terrorism efforts with more analysts and equipment.

“He really gets it,” Riley said. “He is not just doing it to collect toys.”

In the end, experts agree, all the planning and monitoring in the world may be unable to prevent acts of terrorism.

“We know there are vulnerable nodes: the transit system, the airports, the seaport, other parts of the manufacturing and industrial sector,” said the Sheriff’s Department’s Sullivan. But knowing potential targets is only one part of the puzzle, he said. The bigger piece is knowing what terrorists are after at a given moment.

“Al Qaeda might have a long-term objective to change U.S. policy or attack its economy. But because of world events or internal dynamics, they may shift from one target to another,” he said.

“So you must have as much current intelligence as possible about their capabilities and intent. Otherwise you can find yourself protecting against the last attack when the real threat is something else.”

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greg.krikorian@latimes.com

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A region of potential danger

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Few areas can compete with Greater Los Angeles as a potential terrorist target. Beyond the ports, refineries, transportation hubs, high-rise offices, iconic buildings and amusement parks, the region is home to annual events, including the Academy Awards and the Rose Parade, that draw huge crowds and worldwide television audiences. A look at some key areas of concern:

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Transportation

Immediately after the terrorist attacks, federal security efforts focused primarily on airplanes and ports, placing less emphasis on buses, trains and highways. Early threats against the state’s suspension bridges, including the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, didn’t materialize. Priorities shifted toward ground transportation after the Madrid train bombings in 2004 and London bus bombings in 2005. Since those bombings, Los Angeles County transit officials have spent more than $10 million to enhance security on local trains and buses. They need millions more to protect subway tunnels from intruders and upgrade surveillance systems to more quickly recognize potential threats. But no matter how much is spent, transit officials concede that miles of open track and thousands of buses crisscrossing the county cannot be thoroughly protected.

Post-9/11 security measures:

* Transit agencies throughout Southern California have installed or are purchasing hundreds of cameras to monitor suspicious activity on buses and trains and in rail stations, including some Metrolink stops.

* Most bus drivers have completed terrorism awareness training. In Los Angeles, all transit employees, including maintenance workers and clerical staff, also have been trained in security procedures, as have Amtrak workers.

* Transit police have increased patrols. In Los Angeles County, a K-9 unit was created to find explosives.

* The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority purchased a $500,000 decontamination vehicle, explosion-resistant trash cans, portable radios, gas masks and night-vision binoculars to improve security. California Highway Patrol officers have been equipped with night-vision binoculars.

* In the subway, the underground gas-detection system has been enhanced to identify chemical and biological toxins.

* Amtrak riders are required to show photo IDs to buy tickets and are limited to two bags each.

* Like airline cockpit doors, locomotive doors on Amtrak and Metrolink trains are locked.

Continuing vulnerabilities:

* Passengers and their bags are not screened before boarding buses and trains.

* Subway tunnels lack physical barriers that might prevent entry by intruders.

* Much of the track used by Amtrak and Metrolink is open and unprotected.

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Jean Guccione

jean.guccione@latimes.com

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Law enforcement

Local agencies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to help strengthen potentially vulnerable targets and to prepare for the possibility of a terrorist attack. Before 9/11, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department had no deputies assigned full-time to anti-terrorism efforts. Today, the department has about three dozen. Sheriff Lee Baca and Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton are among local law enforcement officials who have traveled internationally to study terrorists’ attacks abroad and the ways law enforcement agencies are working to prevent them.

Post 9/11 security measures:

* The city of Los Angeles has spent $640 million in federal, state and local money to improve the city’s ability to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. Some of the money went to purchase gas masks, radiation detectors and anti-chemical suits for 3,500 police officers and firefighters.

* The Sheriff’s Department has spent about $25 million in federal and state money to purchase equipment and train deputies in anti-terrorism efforts.

* Los Angeles has assigned 83 police officers and firefighters to terrorism-related duties. The Sheriff’s Department has about 35 employees, including sworn deputies and civilian analysts, assigned to anti-terrorism duties.

* LAPD has officers working in the Homeland Security office in Washington and with British intelligence in London.

* Los Angeles officials have identified 287 buildings, bridges, power plants and other facilities that are potential terrorist targets and have developed security plans for each of them.

* The FBI, sheriff and police departments have teamed to open the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, where federal and local police will collect, share and analyze intelligence data on potential terrorist activities in Southern California.

Continuing vulnerabilities:

* The Police Department needs more anti-chemical suits so that all of its 9,300 officers would be protected in the event of a chemical attack.

* Local law enforcement and fire agencies use different radio systems and might have trouble communicating with one another in the event of a catastrophic attack.

* The city of Los Angeles does not have a comprehensive plan for evacuating large numbers of people in the event of a nuclear or chemical attack.

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Stuart Pfeifer and Patrick McGreevy

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stuart pfeifer@latimes.com

patrick mcgreevy@latimes.com

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Plants and refineries:

Although California considers refineries and chemical plants “likely terrorist targets,” Congress has only recently begun studying potential anti-terrorist safeguards for the nation’s 161 refineries and thousands of chemical plants. Los Angeles County is home to the largest cluster of oil refineries west of Texas, and chemical industry records in 2003 listed 12 chemical plants in the Los Angeles Basin that each could expose a million or more people to highly toxic gases if a terrorist attack occurred. Congressional focus was triggered in part by a spate of studies warning that the facilities could become terrorist targets and by media reports of lax security. A Pittsburgh reporter, for instance, attempted to enter 30 chemical plants in major cities in 2002 and gained easy access to toxic chemicals capable of killing or injuring many thousands of residents.

Post-9/11 security measures:

* The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has taken on the responsibility of improving security of key chemical industry infrastructure.

* The American Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care program requires members to assess plants for vulnerabilities, develop security plans and look to third-party independent review of new barriers and other security methods.

* Refineries have added fences, gates, security cameras and sensors, as well as new training and tougher screening for employees and visitors.

* Homeland Security officials are seeking new regulatory authority to order tougher security measures at chemical plants and at refineries that use highly toxic chemicals. Several bills pending on Capitol Hill would grant those powers.

Continuing vulnerabilities:

* A Government Accountability Office report last winter called for more stringent federal oversight, maintaining that the government relies too much on voluntary industry measures. It says federal officials should be allowed to order companies to change to safer chemicals and technologies to ward off terrorist threats.

* The Department of Homeland Security lacks the authority to enter chemical plants without permission to review security systems.

* The oil industry has not adopted a code like the one endorsed by chemical companies, saying that oil companies have special expertise in fending off terrorism at their facilities overseas and have not found that such a code is needed.

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Deborah Schoch

deborah.schoch@latimes.com

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Airports

Los Angeles International Airport has long been considered a likely target of international terrorists. In 1999, Algerian Ahmed Ressam was arrested at the Canadian border with a trunk full of explosives he planned to use at LAX on New Year’s Eve. The airport is considered the state’s No. 1 terrorist target. Since Sept. 11, 2001, Los Angeles’ airport agency has spent $250 million to fortify the facility against an attack. Even so, some experts are concerned that not enough has been done to protect passengers. As evidence, they cite the recent arrest in Britain of 11 suspects charged with conspiracy to murder by blowing up jetliners over the Atlantic Ocean with liquid explosives that might have gone undetected by standard screening.

Post-9/11 security measures:

* Congress passed legislation creating the Transportation Security Administration to overhaul and regulate security for the country’s transportation network.

* The agency hired 43,000 security screeners to work checkpoints in 450 commercial airports. LAX is home to about 2,100 screeners, the nation’s largest such workforce.

* Southern California airports overhauled their infrastructure to handle new security requirements. Many built new security checkpoints to ease longer lines for passengers. At several airports, machines that check luggage for explosives were incorporated into baggage systems. At LAX, officials placed these machines in terminal lobbies, creating long queues.

* Southland airports hired more police and purchased additional bomb-sniffing dogs. Several, including LAX, installed more robust camera systems and reinforced their perimeter fences.

* Vehicle checkpoints can be activated at airport entrances when the country’s terrorism alert level is at orange or red.

Continuing vulnerabilities:

* Most cargo is not screened for explosives.

* Existing screening equipment cannot detect certain explosives.

* Airplanes remain potential targets for terrorists wielding surface-to-air missiles.

* Passengers in long lines at ticket counters and security checkpoints at LAX and other airports may be attractive targets for terrorists with bombs in luggage or cars.

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Jennifer Oldham

jennifer.Oldham@latimes.com