Los Angeles International Airport remains a terrorist target, but security has "improved significantly" with help from $1.6 billion worth of improvements made over the past decade, according to a report released Wednesday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The 162-page study by a blue-ribbon panel of aviation, homeland security and law enforcement experts assembled by Villaraigosa found further enhancements should be made at the nation's third-busiest airport, including improved coordination between LAX's police force and the Los Angeles Police Department.
"This report confirms what we have known to be true: LAX is safe and is safer today than it was following 9-11," Villaraigosa said in a prepared statement.
"But I appointed this panel because we are committed to making LAX the safest, most secure airport in the nation (and) in its class around the world," Villaraigosa said, adding that many of the report's 187 recommendations are already being implemented.
Villaraigosa ordered the study a year ago after the head of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association alleged that LAX was "more vulnerable to a terrorist attack than at any time since 9-11" because of budget and staffing cuts to the Airport Police Department.
After conducting more than 200 interviews, the 27-member panel disagreed with the union's claim, noting LAX's police force has nearly doubled to 448 officers over the past 10 years.
The report found the union has helped fuel "historical tension" between the airport police force and the LAPD.
"The union leadership's attitude towards LAPD in some cases borders on hostility," undermining the willingness of some LAX police officers to work with LAPD officers, the report said.
Marshall McClain, president of LAAPOA, disputed the statement and said he does not have an issue with the LAPD.
"If the blue ribbon panel wants to attack the leadership of LAX and the airport police, then we echo those sentiments," McClain said. "But we raised legitimate issues last year that needed to be addressed so that the traveling public is protected in the best way possible."
As a follow-up, Villaraigosa announced a 10-point plan aimed at furthering safety measures at LAX, including updated procedures for emergency management and improved collaboration between airport police and the LAPD.
The report also found the absence of a high-level executive directly responsible for security oversight "contributes to the perception that security is not the highest priority" for LAX's managers.
James T. Butts Jr. had previously served as LAX's deputy executive director of public safety for four years, but the position was eliminated in 2009 as part of a reorganization of the airport's leadership.
To remedy that, Villaraigosa on Wednesday named Arif Alikhan as the airport's new deputy executive director of law enforcement and homeland security.
Alikhan previously worked for Villaraigosa as deputy mayor of homeland security and public safety for three years, and then was appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama as an assistant secretary for policy development at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The airport already has spent $1.6 billion over the past decade to boost security by building an emergency operations center, fortifying the airfield's perimeter and installing concrete bollards to keep vehicles from plowing into terminals.
LAX also boasts the largest team of canines capable of sniffing out bombs hidden inside luggage, while the airport's police force implemented a new system to randomize patrols and vehicle searches.
Additionally, new sets of scanners have been installed throughout the airport to seek out weapons and explosives stashed inside checked bags.
The most visible change over the past two years has been the arrival of nearly 50 full-body imaging scanners that create intimate images of travelers. The machines emit low-level X-rays to detect weapons that may be hidden on airline passengers, according to the national Transportation Security Administration.
Soon, the airport will spend another $36 million to expand its system of 800 closed-circuit security cameras to more than 3,000 cameras trained on travelers, workers and planes, Villaraigosa said. The project will be partially funded with a $13.5million grant from theTSA.
Staff writer Rick Orlov contributed to this report.
