Massport says it can't offer fix
Buckingham seeks federal monitoring of checkpoints

By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 9/27/2001

Stung by allegations that security lapses at Logan Airport have gone on for
years and have continued even after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
Massachusetts Port Authority executive director Virginia Buckingham said
yesterday that airport authorities are powerless to fix them and that the
federal government should take over the monitoring of security checkpoints.

Buckingham acknowledged yesterday that undercover police got a buck knife
and a pocket full of bullets past terminal metal detectors last week,
despite supposedly tougher security standards put in place at Logan, where
suspected terrorists boarded two of the four jets hijacked Sept. 11.

At a press conference calling for a federal takeover of airport security
nationwide, her message to travelers was not reassuring: Passengers are
essentially still flying under ''the same old system'' that predated the
attacks, she said.

''Undercover officers were able to get by security with a knife and several
bullets. Clearly, that illustrates how vulnerable and flawed the current
system continues to be,'' she said.

''These kinds of items are going to continue to get through,'' she added,
because the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration are still in
charge of gate security.

Buckingham said that Massport is prohibited by law from taking charge of
gate security, even on an emergency basis.

The necessary changes would have to be made at the federal level, and
yesterday Massport officials announced an urgent 13-point request to the
Transportation Department and Congress for a federal takeover of airport
security.

Responding to a Globe Spotlight report that Logan has been among the
nation's worst airports for major breaches since 1991, Buckingham said it
only further illustrated a need for a single, federal authority in charge of
airport security.

She also said she would resign her post if asked to by Acting Governor Jane
Swift, but not before.

''Massport is convinced that there needs to be a thorough and dramatic
overhaul of the existing system at Logan and across the country,'' she said.
''As press accounts this morning only emphasize, retrofitting the existing
flawed security system, no matter how extensively it is done, is not the
solution.''

Massport's recommendations were sent in a letter to Chip Barclay, president
of the American Association of Airport Executives. Barclay represents
airports on a national safety panel established by Transportation Secretary
Norman Mineta and which has been asked to make recommendations by Oct. 1.

William Shumann, FAA spokesman in Washington, said that federal officials
are already considering putting airport security under the control of a
national security force.

''We have received a vast number of proposals to enhance security and we are
considering all of these, but no decisions have been made,'' Shumann said.

Buckingham said Massport's key recommendation yesterday was to replace the
current low-wage, low-skilled workers who staff security checkpoints with a
special corps of federal agents trained in counter-terrorism.

Other recommendations:

Establishing new limits on carry-on luggage and sophisticated systems to
screen all checked baggage.

The use of state-of-the-art electronic facial recognition systems to scan
for terrorists and other criminals.

Stricter screening of airport employees, including fingerprinting by the
FBI.

Material prepared by Stephen Kurkjian of the Globe Staff and the Associated
Press was used in this report.

This story ran on page A22 of the Boston Globe on 9/27/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
==========
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receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========

=========================================================
'Amazing' lapse in security cited at Logan
Businessman relates ease of check-in

By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 10/1/2001

Traveling for the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and
hearing constant reports of increased security precautions, frequent flyer
Jeffrey Phillips arrived at Logan Airport Saturday morning ready for
anything.

Anything, he said, except no security at all.

Phillips, a 38-year-old self-employed drapery salesman from Natick, said he
walked from his car in Logan's Central Parking lot to a US Airways gate at
Terminal B completely unchecked by security of any kind. He was never
searched and didn't even have to pass through a metal detector, he said.

''It's amazing - the worst disaster in the country's history, with some of
it coming out of Boston, and then this happens,'' he said yesterday. ''It
really makes me wonder.''

The security breach, when discovered, caused public safety officials to
briefly empty one side of the terminal and require that all passengers pass
through security again, delaying Phillips's Boston-to-Pittsburgh flight by
about an hour.

An airline spokesman declined to say exactly what happened, and Massport
officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The breach, however, appears to be the latest in a string of embarrassing
post-attack security gaffes at Logan, the point of origin for two of the
four jets hijacked and crashed by allegedly suicidal Islamic extremists at a
cost of more than 6,000 lives.

Last week, embattled Massport executive director Virginia Buckingham
disclosed that undercover State Police officers had smuggled a folding knife
and a pocket full of bullets past airport security checkpoints, which are
controlled by private security companies hired by the airlines.

Phillips said he had no luggage because he was only making a day trip to
Michigan to take measurements for a drapery job. Already having purchased an
''e-ticket'' over the Internet and carrying only his car keys, a wallet, and
a tape measure, he said he was told by an agent at the baggage counter that
he could go straight to the gate.

Which he did.

The nearest security checkpoint was unmanned, with metal gates covering the
front of the metal detectors.

An adjacent walkway into the gate area was wide open, however, and since
there was no one around, he went through, assuming that security personnel
had been moved farther inside the terminal.

Reaching the gate unchallenged, he said, he knew something was wrong.

''I just walked in and went over right to the gate,'' Phillips said. ''I
thought it was a little peculiar.''

After receiving his seat assignment, he began to make his way back into the
airport, only to meet a rush of state troopers and deputy US marshals.

Phillips said he was later told that other passengers had alerted
authorities after seeing two other people take the same unguarded route to
the gate that he did - through an exit walkway for arriving passengers that
was supposed to have been guarded.

David Castelveter, a spokesman for US Airways, yesterday said only that the
airline had a security ''concern'' at Logan Saturday that necessitated the
rescreening of passengers.

''We will not discuss specifics,'' Castelveter said.

Phillips, meanwhile, said he will continue flying out of Logan for business,
but not because Massport officials and politicians including former
president George Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush have tried to assure the
public that it is safe. He flies because he has to, he said.

''The sad part is that all the politicians are trying to get people's
confidence up, but [the authorities] seem more interested in getting the
economy running again than in real security,'' Phillips said.

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 10/1/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
==========
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distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========

==============================================

Ouster seen for Logan's security chief
Swift is said to eye Bratton for fill-in role

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff, 10/2/2001

Fed up with repeated security breaches at Logan Airport, Acting Governor
Jane M. Swift will remove Massachusetts Port Authority security director
Joseph Lawless from his post, an administration source said yesterday.

The source said Swift is pursuing well-known law enforcement leaders,
including former Boston and New York City police commissioner William
Bratton, to take over the security position temporarily.

As for Lawless, who has been under fire since the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, the source said: ''He's being moved out.''

Lawless, who was Governor William F. Weld's former security director and
driver, has insisted that he is not to blame for the hijackings of two
planes that departed Logan and were crashed into the World Trade Center.

The 10 terrorists who boarded the planes apparently did so without violating
any existing security procedures.

But, in recent days, despite the stepped-up presence of State Police at
Logan, several security breaches have occurred. On Saturday, a Natick sales
representative said he walked from his car to a US Airways gate at Terminal
B without encountering security of any kind.

Lawless also set off a dispute the day after the attacks when he kept US
marshals from participating in a planning meeting on Logan security.
Lawless's rebuff was followed by an apology from Massport executive director
Virginia Buckingham.

Lawless's immediate future was unclear last night. One administration source
said Lawless, who earns $130,000 a year, would be placed on paid
administrative leave, though it was not clear for how long. Other
administration officials are advocating Lawless remain involved in security
operations, but be shifted to another area, such as the Port of Boston, and
supervised by a newly appointed chief.

Lawless and Bratton did not return phone calls last night, and a spokesman
for Swift would not comment.

Swift is not expected to take any action at this time on Buckingham, two
administration sources said.

The acting governor will appear tonight on the 6 p.m. news to outline
several other steps she is taking to manage the fallout from the terrorist
attacks, including their economic impact. She is not expected to discuss
Lawless's removal during the speech. The other plans include a proposal to
eliminate the state's seven-day waiting period for unemployment benefits and
waiving of tuition and fees at state colleges for family members of state
residents killed in the attacks.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Swift said she found the recurring security
problems at Logan ''unacceptable.'' The lapses have created more anxiety
among travelers. After the Saturday incident, half of the terminal was
evacuated and all passengers required to pass through security again.

''I believe Logan is safe, although I think we need to continue to address
unacceptable security breaches there,'' she said. ''I don't think we should
engage in buck-passing.''

Swift's speech, which will be carried live shortly after 6 p.m. on Boston's
major television stations, is part of the acting governor's determined
effort to remain highly visible in dealing with the aftermath of the
attacks.

Many analysts agree that, despite her relative youth and inexperience, Swift
has appeared composed and confident. And she made some quick but difficult
decisions that have proven correct, including her insistence that a
congressional primary election be held Sept. 11 despite some public fear.
Turnout in the election was approximately 30 percent, significantly higher
than expected.

''I thought her conduct in the aftermath was very positive,'' said Jerome
Mileur, chairman of the political science department at University of
Massachusetts at Amherst, who has been active in state Democratic politics.
''She appeared in charge, and made you feel that she was in control of the
circumstances and would do what was needed.''

Swift won praise for going beyond her inner circle and establishing a
seven-member, high-caliber panel of specialists in aviation, management, and
government to examine how to overhaul Massport, including, potentially, its
management.

Some senior staffers warned Swift against the appointment of the commission,
stressing that she could not control the outcome, an administration source
said. They were concerned about her plan to make Marshall Carter, the former
State Street Bank CEO, the panel's chairman because of his reputation for
being headstrong.

''This is not a time for business as usual,'' said Swift, according to one
aide who was there.

Still, while Swift has seemingly gained stature in the last three weeks, she
still faces possible pitfalls. Her real challenge will be how she handles
them in the next few months.

''She's got to get across the idea that she is really in charge of it
[airport security] and it is not going through some long chain of command,''
said John Berg, a political science professor at Suffolk University.

Some feel that, despite Swift's rapid response to security concerns at
Logan, the continuing focus on the Port Authority's well-established culture
of patronage hirings and political favoritism could present treacherous
territory for her. Although Massport officials have said the airlines and
the Federal Aviation Administration are to blame for security lapses, the
media and public have also criticized the agency's management and patronage
and have called for changes there.

Swift's posture as a reformer at Massport could be undercut by the fact that
Weld gave her a $78,000 Massport job in 1997 after her defeat in a
congressional race. The post was created for her and never filled after she
left.

''I think she has handled the symbolic stuff pretty well - closing down
buildings and making her public statements,'' said George Sulzner, a
political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
''But it seems the potential problem is coming to grips with the
administration of Massport. This is going to pressure her to take some
aggressive action in terms of the patronage at the top positions at
Massport.''

This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 10/2/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
==========
**NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========

========================================================

AIRPORT SECURITY
Logan to get more troopers, National Guard

By Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff, 10/2/2001

Responding to a series of embarrassing security breaches at Logan
International Airport, Massport officials said yesterday that they would
increase the number of state troopers watching over airline-run security
checkpoints and that National Guard troops would be joining them by Friday.

The move came after reports that as many as three US Airways passengers
walked through an unused, apparently unguarded checkpoint in Terminal B on
Saturday morning, making it all the way to the gate without passing through
metal detectors or being scrutinized by security personnel.

The security lapses - occurring at the same airport where suspected Islamic
militants hijacked two of four commercial jetliners used in the Sept. 11
attacks in New York and Washington - were branded as ''unacceptable'' by
Acting Governor Jane Swift.

Yet, even as officials vowed to further beef up security, travelers and
airport users continued to express anger and dissatisfaction with the
situation at Logan. One man, for example, said he noticed that a blue Audi
had been parked for nearly an hour, unattended, at a terminal curb early
Friday morning, despite a Federal Aviation Administration ban on curbside
parking.

Airport officials also disclosed yesterday that a man, who appeared to be of
Middle Eastern descent, was detained on immigration charges Sunday night
after employees saw him and a companion loitering at a rental car parking
lot.

Massport spokesman Jose Juves said officials have decided to back up all of
the airport's security checkpoints with state troopers after the Terminal B
incident.

''We have augmented those with State Police,'' Juves said. ''But I think
it's clear that this is another argument for having federal authorities come
in and take over airport security.''

Though Massport officials insist they are powerless to tighten the
airline-run checkpoints, several Logan users complained yesterday that they
weren't seeing the armed and uniformed law enforcement officers authorities
have promised, and that it seemed to be business as usual at the airport.

Stuart Frankel, 59, a software executive from Brookline, said that when he
arrived at the airport to pick up his brother at Terminal C at about 12:20
a.m. Friday, he parked at the curb a few dozen yards from the TWA baggage
claim area, next to several bright yellow FAA ''No Parking'' signs.

But instead of being shooed away by police as he had expected, Frankel said,
he waited there for nearly an hour - and never saw a single law enforcement
officer.

And the blue Audi was parked in front of him the entire time.

''It made me very angry that all of this stuff is on the news, that the
government is tightening up security and tightening up rules, and, really,
nothing has changed,'' Frankel said. ''Logan is just a big loophole.''

Hugh Scandrett, an executive with a Lexington computer firm, said he had a
similar experience in Terminal E early Sunday morning.

Scandrett, who was dropping off a relative, said he was at the international
terminal for at least half an hour, and there were no uniformed law
enforcement officers in sight, inside or outside the terminal.

He said he saw three men arguing loudly with a ticket agent at the check-in
counter, but there were no security officers around to intervene.

''There was no guard, no help, no nothing,'' he said. ''It was
unbelievable.''

Juves said yesterday it was possible that passengers might not see roving
patrols of troopers and federal deputies inside the terminals. He could not
explain the security lapses at the curbsides.

''If anything, most of the complaints we're getting are from people whose
cars have been towed away too fast,'' he said.

Juves said security will get a big boost tomorrow when 100 members of the
National Guard begin training at Logan and Massport's two other airports,
Worcester and Hanscom Field in Bedford.

The Guard will take up patrols and security posts full time beginning
Friday, he said.

Phil Orlandella, another airport spokesman, said yesterday that state
troopers stopped and questioned two men as they sat in a car at the
airport's Budget Rent-a-Car lot for more than two hours Sunday night.

One of the men was detained and handed over to the US Immigration and
Naturalization Service when he could not produce proper identification.

His companion was released, officials said.

This story ran on page A16 of the Boston Globe on 10/2/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
==========
**NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========

========================================================

Swift must act now

By Brian McGrory, Globe Columnist, 10/2/2001

Here's what you do if you're the governor of Massachusetts three weeks after
a pair of hijacked planes from Logan Airport slammed into the World Trade
Center and killed more than 6,000 people:

You pick up the telephone this morning and personally call Bill Bratton in
New York and do whatever it takes, offer him whatever he wants, to bring him
to Boston to overhaul Massport. You promise him absolutely anything he needs
to make Logan a national model for airline security.

If you're the governor of Massachusetts, this is not the hour of indecision;
it's the hour for action. It's not a time to protect old political friends;
it's the time to show you're capable of leading a state in crisis.

Acting Governor Jane Swift has apparently decided to replace Joe Lawless,
the director of Massport security, but keep Virginia Buckingham, the
Massport executive director, at least for now.

Her staff began scouting for high-profile security consultants to overhaul
Massport operations on a short-term basis. The names at the top of their
list were Bratton and Howard Safir, a former New York police and fire
commissioner.

Bratton, a native Bostonian, is the former commissioner of the Boston and
New York police departments, arguably the foremost law enforcement expert in
the United States. Now he runs his own security business and works as a
senior consultant for Kroll, the international risk consulting company.

When I reached Bratton yesterday morning about the possibility of coming to
Massport, he sounded intrigued. He had yet to be approached with an offer
from Massachusetts officials.

''It's difficult to comment on an offer that hasn't been made and a door
that hasn't been opened,'' he said. But he added: ''The company I consult
with, Kroll, has an interest and a skill set that matches a lot of the
issues Massport faces.''

By late afternoon, Swift's office had called him, and negotiations appeared
muddled. ''I can't talk about it,'' Bratton said with uncharacteristic
brevity.

By early evening, when gubernatorial aides began whispering to reporters
that the governor was eyeing Bratton as a possible director of security, he
was ready to squelch it altogether.

''That's not a position I was offered, and even if I was, it's not a
position I would accept,'' he told me.

Obviously, something went terribly wrong.

Perhaps it's the chain of command. (Can you picture Bratton answering to
Buckingham?) More likely, it's Bratton's attempts to make sure Kroll, a
company with enormous security and counterterrorism resources, has a major
role at Logan after he leaves.

Regardless, Swift has to straighten it out, and she has until 6:05 tonight,
when she's scheduled to appear on live television to deliver an address on
Logan security and the state's economy in the aftermath of Sept. 11.

Privately, Swift is fuming over the egregious security lapse at Logan this
weekend that allowed three passengers to walk to a terminal gate without
being stopped or checked. She also laments that when Buckingham appears on
TV these days, it looks like she's trying to save her job. What Swift wants
is someone before the cameras who looks to be trying to save lives.

Bratton is far and away the best fit. He knows Boston, and Boston knows him.
After he became police commissioner in New York, crime rates dove. Quality
of life soared. National magazines splashed his mug on their covers.

His first ambition is to become New York police commissioner again, or
deputy mayor - a distinct possibility if Mark Green wins next week's runoff
and the November election.

That still leaves open the possibility of hiring Bratton to overhaul Logan
for the next two or three months, to give him the freedom to storm into
town, shred current practices, then put systems in place to endure long
after he leaves.

A safe Logan Airport - for Jane Swift, what a wonderful legacy that could
be.

This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 10/2/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
==========
**NOTICE: In accordance with 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.**
==========