Newsstand - Los Angeles International Airport closed due to possible security breach

CNN and MSNBC are reporting that LAX is currently closed due to a "suspicious person" and also a possible explosion of a battery operated flashlight. But details are actually pretty sketchy and nothing is confirmed. Passengers have no idea as to what is going on, although passengers there believe it is a bomb scare since passengers have been stuck. This has been going for about 2 hours now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5915091/

Check airlines for flight departures and arrivals. There are no flights leaving or departing most of the terminals right now. And traffic is diverted coming into the airport.

I spoke with a Northwest elite agent that said at 9:45 AM CDT an internal memo was issued at NW stating that the Bradley terminal had a bomb threat which resulted in the airport closing all roads roads leading into LAX and no estimated time when the roads will re-open.

The NW flights in/out of LAX are all operating on schedule, however departing pax cannot enter the LAX airport nor can arriving pax depart from the airport.

RC

There are definitely still planes taking off. See this map. The green planes are taking off. http://www4.passur.com/lax.html

As of right now, no ground transportation is being let into the airport. Traffic on Lincoln/Sepulveda is a nightmare. Just heard on the radio that a TSA person was examining a battery (flashlight?) and it exploded injuring 3 people. They also reported there was a security breach at almost the same time in the United Terminal.

Hi,

From cnn.com, the DHS has stated it is not awareof any explosion or injuries ;

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/09/04/lax.incident/index.html


Regards

TBS

Just saw a news conference on CNN.

First incident someone walked up the down escalator to the sterile area. Instead of capturing/detaining the person, TSA evacuated Terminals 6, 7, and 8.

Second incident 30 minutes later in another terminal (Bradley International), a 2-c-cell flashlight owned by a Japanese national flying Korean Air exploded, apparently due to corroded batteries, causing minor injuries to some screeners who were screening the bag.

I only caught the tail of the conference, but apparently they were concerned the incidents were connected so they closed (evacuated?) the entire airport.

1) As usual, the first evacuation could have been prevented, or isolated to a small area, or something more sensical than evacuating 3 terminals at LAX.

2) I hope TSA doesn't overreact to the unfortunate battery incident by stupidly expanding the prohibited items list, as the risk of any given battery exploding is quite low and it would be a huge inconvenience to pax.

First incident someone walked up the down escalator to the sterile area. Instead of capturing/detaining the person, TSA evacuated Terminals 6, 7, and 8.

The news conference indicated the person ran up the down escalator that leads from Baggage Claim area to the Terminal (though this isn't how it's supposed to "lead"). I know the area well. There is only one Security person sitting on a stool in that area. It is not a Security Checkpoint. The guy ran up and past him. Apparently his instructions are not to leave his post and to report by radio, which he did. They couldn't find the guy though.

There are definitely still planes taking off. See this map. The green planes are taking off. http://www4.passur.com/lax.html
Such a cool map! Thanks.

The news conference indicated the person ran up the down escalator that leads from Baggage Claim area to the Terminal (though this isn't how it's supposed to "lead"). I know the area well. There is only one Security person sitting on a stool in that area. It is not a Security Checkpoint. The guy ran up and past him. Apparently his instructions are not to leave his post and to report by radio, which he did. They couldn't find the guy though.

How bloody idiotic; "His instructions are not to leave his post and report by radio". Then again, I suppose if he did the sensible thing and got up for a minute & stopped the passenger from entering as he was approaching the escelator, he would of been fired?

So let me get this straight, a security agent just sat there on his/her butt, watched someone enter an exit and then proceed up a down escelator. After this person proceeds up the escelator he/she just gets on the radio and "reports it". Wow, effective security.

How much did this unnecessary evacuation and closure cost? Unnecessary being that common sense indicates this person should have been stopped (quite easily I would immagine) from entering the exit.

This security company should be held responsible; they should compensate the airlines for any financial losses as a result AND compensate passengers for their delays and costs incurred by the passengers as a result such as hotel rooms (It wouldn't surprise me if many pax were supposed to connect somewhere and missed the one flight/last flight of the day to their international destination), extra meals somewhere because of the delay, etc.

I suspect this problem combined with the other at the Bradley Intl Terminal, airport road closure, and flight diversions probably cost significant $$$'s to travelers, let alone extra cost to the carriers.

Anyone feel safer yet? :rolleyes:

Best,

SDF_Traveler

How bloody idiotic; "His instructions are not to leave his post and report by radio". Then again, I suppose if he did the sensible thing and got up for a minute & stopped the passenger from entering as he was approaching the escelator, he would of been fired?



It doesn't say the agent didn't try to stop him. All the guy said was he couldn't leave his post. He/she could have told him to wait or something and he didn't listen. We can't physically restrain anyone either.

Effective security should have two bodies on the exit but that means more staffing so thats out of the question.

This security company should be held responsible; they should compensate the airlines for any financial losses as a result AND compensate passengers for their delays and costs incurred by the passengers as a result such as hotel rooms (It wouldn't surprise me if many pax were supposed to connect somewhere and missed the one flight/last flight of the day to their international destination), extra meals somewhere because of the delay, etc.

I suspect this problem combined with the other at the Bradley Intl Terminal, airport road closure, and flight diversions probably cost significant $$$'s to travelers, let alone extra cost to the carriers.


Did they find the guy who ran up the down escalator? They should charge him the clean-up cost, just as they do with arsonists and people who get themselves stranded and then rescued in well-forecasted storms.

If someone ran "up the down escalator" wouldn't that person be videoptaped and the video image transmitted to the airport police?

This incident should have ended differently than it did.

RC

a)Al-Qaida agent #1 runs up escalator

b)idiots at TSA dump terminal

c)Al-Qaida agent #2 detonates bomb killing hundreds at dump site

Appropriate action:

d)Admiral Stone is jailed for 20 years to life for criminal negligence resulting in mass murder. FSD at airport receives 10 year sentence for being an accessory to this crime. TSA is disbanded.

It doesn't say the agent didn't try to stop him. All the guy said was he couldn't leave his post. He/she could have told him to wait or something and he didn't listen. We can't physically restrain anyone either.

Effective security should have two bodies on the exit but that means more staffing so thats out of the question.

screenerx,

Was it a TSA agent or just a "security agent"? I was under the impression it was a "security agent" as you often see them sitting outside of exits, but I could quite well be wrong.

Security could potentially be more effective with two bodies at an exit, but what good is it if they can't do anything but report via radio? I feel TSA officers or private security should be able to restrain or even detain in specific circumstances such as this.

If one does not have the ability to physically restrain or detain in a scenario such as this, how can we even call it security? While this was someone entering a sterile area via an exit, what if someone attempts to force their way through a checkpoint without stopping? While there is typically a LEO at most checkpoints, I believe physical restraint should be permissable by the TSA or a private security officer in such a scenario.

We don't know how pro-active this officer was, but from what I've read, it doesn't sound like he/she was very proactive. One can yell stop or say stay here, but how about getting up and confronting the person, face to face?

Anyway, I'm just speculating here as we don't know all of the facts. As a TSA officer, what are your feelings about physically stopping or restraining an individual in a scenario such as this? Any powers to restrain or detain need to be limited, but I feel there are specific, limited circumstances where one should be able to restrain at minimum.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

My personal opinion?

It's not my job. Many people in the public even say this. I'm not armed for a reason, I'm not trained to restrain or tackle anyone. If you want to force your way through a checkpoint, I will try to stop you the best I can verbally but I'm not going to try to physcially stop you.

If you want something like that at the checkpoint, then I suggest you argue for placing police officers on the checkpoint to do the job.