Remote screening gains, but will it help?

Mr. Hahn's plan is receiving unusual attention not only because of its coincidental release the day before the shooting, but also because of LAX's size – the world's third largest airport. Hahn, too, heads a US Conference of Mayors committee on airport safety, which is trying to develop ideas and guidelines for airports in every state.

The initiative includes plans to development a facility on 196 acres near the airport where all arriving passengers would check in and move through security checkpoints before heading to separate terminals. Passengers would be shuttled from the check-in site to a redesigned LAX central terminal on an automated "people mover." The ride would take about five minutes.

Other cities are looking at broadening security checkpoints to areas outside terminals as well, in what would amount to a major shift in strategy. At O'Hare International in Chicago, authorities are believed to be considering a checkpoint at the outer boundary of the airport as part of a modernization plan. One other idea gaining momentum: surveillance cameras that can monitor vehicles as they approach airports.

Yet authorities here believe the LAX initiative, because of its scale, could serve as a model for similar redesigns elsewhere. To carry out such a setup, major structures, including parking garages inside the U-shaped roadway at the center of the current terminal complex, would have to be removed to make room for the new security equipment.

"The idea of funneling all security through one area separate from where the airline terminals are is to make for a more secure and calm environment throughout the airport," says Nancy Castle of Los Angeles World Airports, which runs LAX.

The Hahn plan was developed after 9/11 to deal with the threat of terrorism and to address LAX's infamous traffic problems. Hahn wants to begin the project in 2003 or 2004. It is expected to take 10 years to build. "My number one goal was to make a safer airport," said Hahn, at a press conference.

Yet the proposal does have its critics. Some local opposition is expected because the expansion could impact the already congested community of El Segundo near the airport.

The main concern about remote screening, though, is that it simply relocates the problem. Critics say an assailant intent on hurting crowds will simple go to where they congregate.

But others believe extending the safety buffer zone would make terror attacks harder to carry out – and allow authorities to contain them if they do occur. What's been "learned from the recent shooting here, as well as new information showing us how far airports have and haven't come since 9/11, are both opportunities to improve the old way of doing things," says Denny Zane, a consultant to the city of El Segundo about the expansion of LAX.

Page: 1 | 2