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American Morning

Former DOT Official Discusses LAX Attack

Aired July 05, 2002 - 09:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We continue to talk about the incident in southern California yesterday at LAX. And while fears of widespread terror did not prove true yesterday, some experts are saying that the shooting at Los Angeles International Airport shows real weaknesses in airport security.

Joining us now from Los Angeles, Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, who now, by the way, is an attorney representing the victims of airline accidents.

Mary, good morning. Thanks for joining us

MARY SCHIAVO, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Good morning. Thank you.

KAGAN: First, let’s start with that premise: Do you agree or disagree? Was this a problem with airport security, or could this incident have happened anywhere?

SCHIAVO: Well, obviously, an incident like this could and has happened anywhere, but the airport has been the preferred target.

The kind of shooting at ticket counters, we’ve had shootings at baggage claim, we’ve had shootings at gates, etcetera. So – and people forget this, that throughout the last 30 years, we’ve had well over 700 attacks on aviation, and not all have been in airplanes.

KAGAN: Right. Well – and – but we’ve also had attacks – we’ve also had shootings in post offices and in markets and in restaurants. And so are we looking at a bigger picture of our society here, of how we need to change. Or you really think we need to refocus on what kind of security we have in our airports?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think there are lots of things in society that are going to change, but airports have been the repeated – one of the most favorite targets of terrorist. And the way that we do security at airports has to change dramatically.

We have focused – traditionally have focused -- on the last attack, looking at the way the last attack occurred. And then the terrorist go on -- or in this case criminals – perhaps go on to other methods. So we have to redo it completely.

LAX has some different plans in the works – other airports have different plans, but -- clearly, decided rethinking security all over America. I think the airports have been the repeat favorite target.

KAGAN: You’re making reference to the mayor, James Hahn. He’s proposing an over $9 billion restructuring of LAX. Should part of that be looking at the security not just from when you pass through the metal detector to your gate, but from the moment you step on airport property?

SCHIAVO: Well, that’s part of the big plan for LAX, is to do something about the way that people enter into the airport facility at all. In other words, you will enter into an intake facility off of airport property.

LAX Airport is a very difficult airport to police and secure because there are so many points of access. There’s not one central point at which you funnel into the airport facility. It’s convenient for the passengers and their families to drop them off, etcetera, but it is very difficult to secure.

And so this facility you would actually enter off site at the airport and then only be bussed to the airport, or transported to the airport, after you’ve passed security. But people will also say of course that then that will become a target of attack. I think less so, because it will be removed from the aviation -- direct aviation facility – but that’s part of the plan.

KAGAN: Yes, and that becomes a whole convenience argument.

SCHIAVO: That’s right.

KAGAN: Perhaps a topic for another day.

I was to call on your current expertise in representing victims of airlines accidents. Is yesterday’s situation – is that a lawsuit waiting to happen?

SCHIAVO: Well, it can be. It depends on the facts of the situation, and certainly people will be looking into it. But in this case, El-Al had taken measures that many U.S. carriers do not.

And there are actually cases on file and there have been decided court cases where they say airlines need to take precautions such as hiring armed guards.

So in fact, they did many things that the U.S. courts have said U.S. carriers should be doing.

So people will have to look very closely at the facts of the situation. And indeed, the security guard might have stopped far additional bloodshed and loss of life. And other airlines might be wise to emulate some of El-Al’s security protections because they're certainly going to be targets in other ways than they have been in the past.

So it might be a situation where they indeed did things they should have done, as opposed to should not have done.

KAGAN: Very good point. Mary Schiavo, thanks for joining us once again this morning. Good to see you.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

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