REPORT RECOMMENDS STEPS TO TOUGHEN LAX SECURITY.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

Los Angeles International Airport is an attractive target for terrorists and a series of steps need to be taken quickly to increase LAX security, the Rand Corp. said Friday in a report commissioned by the city.

In the first phase of recommending current and future LAX security needs, the researchers said some of the answers are simple and obvious - such as reducing crowded check-in lines.

Other steps, however, would carry costs of more than $152 million a year - screening all airliners' cargo, increasing vehicle checks and other steps to protect LAX from attacks.

Mayor James Hahn and Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes LAX, released the report after receiving a briefing from Rand officials.

``I think we need to look at what can be done immediately, but we also have to work with the federal government and the airlines to make sure we have the people to do the job,'' Hahn said.

Many of the key recommendations involve reducing the density of passenger crowds at the airport - a factor that would require the airlines to have more ticket agents and skycaps and the federal Transportation Security Agency to hire more screeners. Efforts to contact TSA officials for comment Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

Hahn noted that many of the recommendations were common-sense solutions.

``When you go around the airport and see all these people, you realize the threat,'' Hahn said.

Miscikowski said she believed the Rand study will go far toward satisfying most of the critics who have contended that security studies on the proposed LAX modernization plan would not be practical enough.

``I think what we have here is a template that can be used for whatever we do at the airport in the future,'' Miscikowski said.

Airport General Manager Kim Day said the recommendations will be reviewed and implemented as soon as possible.

``Since Sept. 11, we have been called on to pay for more security,'' Day said. ``We will find the money we need to accomplish the goals here.''

Hahn and Miscikowski had asked Rand to prepare the report as part of the mayor's proposed $9.1 billion modernization plan for the airport.

Critics had said the original security plan was inadequate or based on technology that has yet to be developed.

Councilman Jack Weiss, one of those who had criticized the earlier plans, said he fully supports the Rand recommendations.

``I would say this has the most significant recommendations we have received and I would urge us to implement them as quickly as possible.''

Councilman Bernard Parks, who has offered his own plan for the LAX modernization and also has been a critic of the previous security review, has called for the city to delay action on the overall LAX plan until Rand provides a full report on security needs.

Parks did not immediately return telephone calls for comment on Friday's report.

The new report does not deal with the proposals in the modernization plan. Instead, it offers its own proposals to improve security.

The report notes that researchers consider LAX one of the safest places in Los Angeles, with its baggage screening procedures, high-profile police presence, bomb-sniffing dogs and other precautions.

Yet, police and homeland security officials believe LAX remains a target of terrorists.

``The problem is how to influence the behavior of an unpredictable enemy,'' the report notes. ``The primary goal is deterrence.

``Terrorists will see the airport as an unsatisfactory target.''

However, the report's authors cautioned that taking such strong steps at one site could encourage terrorists to look elsewhere in the region for another target.

``My concern is with making LAX as safe as we can and harden it as a target,'' Hahn said. ``We are working to provide protection elsewhere in the city, but it has been made clear to us that LAX has always been considered a prime target and we have to do all we can to increase protection there.''

Since 1974, LAX has been the site of two bombings, two attempted bombings and one gun attack, the report notes.

The Rand researchers laid out 11 different possible scenarios of a terrorist attack, ranging from a large truck bomb or curbside car bomb to devices planted on planes or in cargo as well as direct assaults on the facility or aircraft using it.

It also ranked these scenarios, the most dangerous being a luggage bomb inside a crowded terminal, followed by an explosive device in a cargo area, and truck and car bombs.

Rand researcher Donald Stevens, who oversaw the report, said one of the questions studied was where the most damage would occur.

``What we found is that it isn't the size of the bomb, but where it is detonated,'' Stevens said, adding that a bomb in a highly congested part of the airport is more dangerous.

Among immediate low-cost options recommended are steps to lessen public vulnerability by reducing the size of check-in lines inside and outside of terminals.

``Eliminating lines at baggage check-ins is very effective because these lines are an attractive target,'' the report said. ``For example, a terrorist could bring a substantial bomb concealed in luggage with little risk of arousing suspicion.

``Similarly, lines outside terminals are dangerous because they make an attractive target for a vehicle bomb.''

Stevens said the organization was also urging better training of airport police - including having a SWAT team available - and to make permanent vehicle checkpoints to at least conduct a cursory search of cars and trucks coming into the airport.

Hahn said he supported both proposals.

``The farther away we can keep luggage and vehicles, the less risk we have,'' Hahn said.

The firm also recommended improvements to the fencing on the airport perimeter.

``This will reduce LAX's vulnerability to over-the-fence attacks,'' the report said. ``It will also greatly reduce the number of 'crazies' wandering onto the runways.''

Stevens said some of the more expensive proposals that need further review are creating remote parking lots for all vehicles, looking at new technology and approving construction that would further insulate LAX terminals.

The report recommended better screening and background checks of airport workers.

Earlier this year, federal officials said the TSA had placed thousands of screeners at the nation's airports without the required background checks. Eighty-five of those workers were convicted felons, who were later fired.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

LAX REPORT

Here are some of the major elements recommended by Rand Corp. researchers to improve security at Los Angeles International Airport:

--Reduce the size of crowds in and around terminals.

--Implement permanent checkpoints to inspect vehicles.

--Enhance screening of airport workers.

--Inspect cargo and mail.

--Improve perimeter security.

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LAX REPORT (see text)