WASHINGTON -- The video is graphic. Machine-gun toting terroristsemerge from an elevator and move methodically through the busyairport terminal, mowing down travelers, police and everyone elsein their way. "When I show it in my airport security training courses, there areusually only a few people who are familiar with it," says JeffreyPrice, who teaches aviation management at Metropolitan StateCollege of Denver. "[There is] hardly any airport that's preparedto defend against it." The violent clip , it turns out, is from the controversial "Modern Warfare" videogame series. But the fictional scenario -- terrorists attackingairports -- has played out in real life. Terrorist groups havestaged assaults on airports across Europe in recent years,including an attack that killed two U.S. airmen in Frankfurt last year, and a suicide bomb attack in Moscow that left dozens dead. Terrorists haven't ignored U.S. airports, either. On July 4, 2002,a gunman killed two people at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport. More recently, in 2007, federal authorities broke up a plot toblow up fuel tanks at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport . Terrorists can strike anywhere -- from Times Square to a civil rights march in Spokane, Wash . But despite spending billions of dollars to make air travel safersince Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airplanes on Sept. 11,2001, law enforcement agencies are unprepared for a major attackinside an airport, some security experts warn. Complacency, otherpriorities and lack of funding, they say, have combined to createvulnerability in a place the public assumes is one of the mostsecure of all. The main mission of the Transportation Security Administration(TSA) is to keep weapons and explosives off of airplanes -- amandate that has led to the rise of full-body scanners, bannedliquids, intrusive pat-downs and complaints over profiling . The job of guarding the terminal, patrolling the airport parkinglot and watching the fence around the runways, however, belongs tostate and local authorities. "The federal government doesn't tell you how to do security," saysThomas Kinton, a consultant who was aviation director at Boston'sLogan International Airport on 9/11 and is a former head of theMassachusetts Port Authority. The TSA sets minimum security standards at airports and providessome training to outside security officers from these state andlocal authorities. "Airport security is a shared responsibility,and airports and airlines are required to adhere to TSA-approvedsecurity standards," the TSA said in a statement to HuffPost. "TSAdoes not employ airport police officers, but works closely withairports to incorporate local law enforcement into an overallTSA-approved security plan." In other words, Kinton explains, "it is up to each airport" todecide how much security it will provide. Some of the larger airport authorities, such as the Port Authorityof New York & New Jersey, have their own specially trained policeforces. Many others, though, rely on the state or local lawenforcement agencies for airport security. Many big city police departments view the airport as "just anotherstrategic facility" to protect along with power plants, trainstations and sports stadiums, says Rafi Ron, a former head ofsecurity at Israel's Ben Gurion International Airport who hasadvised the TSA and airport authorities. In a time of tight government budgets, such law enforcement hasneither the resources nor the motivation, Ron says, to makeairports a top priority. Federal spending on passenger and baggage screening and other homeland securitymeasures has soared since 2001, but strapped state and city budgetsmean "funding shortages have forced many airports to operate at theminimum local legal threshold," Ron told Congress last year. As a result, he says, "The so-called tired and weary end up at theairport," with officers viewing the post as just a stop along theway to retirement. Price, the aviation management professor, also says that -- with afew exceptions like Boston's Logan and the three airports in theNew York area -- "many airport police forces are staffed with thosewaiting to retire, or 'retired-on-active-duty' (known as derisivelyROAD) or are the 'problem children' and workers comp cases thathave been transferred off the streets to the airport. They are notwell equipped nor adequately trained to handle a multi-force activeshooter attack." There are no official statistics on the average age of airportpolice, or what bearing that may have on job performance. But a Boston Globe report soon after 9/11 found the average age of Massachusetts statetroopers assigned to Logan was 50 years, compared to 41 yearsstatewide. Kinton said several efforts to end the seniority system, by whicholder law enforcement officers get first dibs on airport jobs, havegone nowhere. "If you want to be better and be the best of thebest," he says, "there are better ways to do it." Robert Raffel, former public safety director at OrlandoInternational Airport, notes that airports tend to attract olderpolice officers. He says airports also try to save money bycontracting out some jobs such as guarding exit gates to cheaper,private security firms. But Raffel insists that if a terrorist is determined and suicidal,"I'm not sure any police organization could respond in a robustmanner before they got close to that airplane, I don't care whatkind of shape they are in." Jack Riley, vice president of the National Security ResearchDivision at RAND, rejects the idea that airports are "a dumpingground" for worn-out cops and says the threat is exaggerated. "Whenyou look at terrorist infrastructure incidents across the globe,"he says, "terrorists are more likely to attack targets like rail,buses, and public squares than targets like airports." A House subcommittee hearing last year on airport perimeter security , however, shed light on thousands of security breaches at airports. Airline stowaways , bypassed checkpoints and tarmac drunk drivers have made splashy headlines -- even as a recent report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general saidmany security breaches are never even reported to the TSA. The breaches are serious, says Ron. "Think instead of a drunkdriver that could have been a suicide bomber with a car full ofexplosives." But the headlines tell only part of the story. "We are far lessprepared for an active shooter in the terminal than we should be," Price says. "Frankly, if youask me, that's what Congress should be investigating." In Europe, where national governments take responsibility forsecurity at most airports, lessons learned a generation ago stillcarry force. For instance, travelers passing through Rome's Leonardo da VinciAirport, where 16 people were killed by Palestinian terrorists in 1985, still see heavily armed policewearing body armor and toting automatic weapons. While similarlyequipped police were common at U.S. airports in the days and monthsfollowing 9/11, today they are a rare sight, and usually onlyduring periods of heightened alert. "A key line of defense is deterrence," Price has written . "An alert, well-trained, well-equipped police force patrollingthe public areas of a terminal building, like they do in Rome, canbe a huge deterrent to a suicide bomber." Ron says specially trained police with the "right background, rightlevel of fitness, right training, right weapon" can make adifference. That is a lesson Israel learned 40 years ago when LodAirport, now known as Ben Gurion, was targeted by Japanese Red Armyterrorists who killed 26 people. It was the first -- and last -- attack on Israel's onlyinternational airport. "One of the lessons learned by Israel at the time is that airportsecurity is just as critical as securing [the airplane]," Ron says."Are the police departments at U.S. airports providing adequatesecurity? Largely speaking, the answer is no.". I am an expert from stabilizerlinkbar.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Automobile Ball Joint , Upper Lower Ball Joint Manufacturer, Shock Absorber for Cars,and more.
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