Airport security under review

Lawmakers respond to series on shooting crisis

FORT LAUDERDALE — A South Florida congresswoman plans to introduce legislation to improve airport emergency procedures in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the chaos that followed January’s massshooting at Fort Lauderdale airport.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, in an interview with the Sun Sentinel, said she will address the failings in worker training, evacuation planning and communications that contributed to the crisis.

A Sun Sentinel investigation published this month found that missteps in emergency planning and response fueled the panic that consumed the airport long after the lone gunman was captured.

False reports of gunfire spread through every terminal, and some of those earli-

est reports came from police. Baggage screeners fled their posts, as they are trained to do, but their behavior further frightened passengers. More than 840 officers from throughout South Florida raced to the airport, overloading Broward County’s emergency radio system. Thousands of passengers were held for hours on the tarmac with little or no information. And once the airport was declared safe, many were still trapped by the gridlock surrounding the scene.

Fort Lauderdale’s day of turmoil marked the third time in less than a year that false reports of gunfire sparked widespread panic at a U.S. airport. And it marked the second time in less than three years that a gunman shot multiple people inside a U.S. airport, but outside the secure areas of that airport.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is conducting multiple reviews of its policies in light of these incidents and other assaults on airports here and abroad, including reviewing how to improve security measures in vulnerable public areas, such as baggage claim, where the Fort Lauderdale gunman killed five and wounded six.

Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat whose district includes the airport, outlined her plans in broad terms, saying she is still gathering information and consulting with security experts and regulators.

“I want to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again, here or in any other airport in America,” Wasserman Schultz said. “There are clear gaps that we must work together to fill so that we can continuously strengthen our airport security systems.”

Another South Florida congresswoman threw her support behind efforts to strengthen the laws surrounding airport security and emergency response.

“No one plans for these incidents, but adequate preparation and training would have likely diminished the turmoil experienced by airport personnel and travelers alike,” said U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat whose district includes part of Hollywood, south of the airport.

“Legislation to address some of the issues that arose on that terrible day is absolutely needed and as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I am eager to contribute to and support efforts to mandate active shooter security plans.”

A key focus, Wasserman Schultz said, is to require that airports nationwide have mass evacuation plans. “Many of them don’t,” she said.

The congresswoman said the plans, while allowing for “orderly chaos,” should ensure that people are kept safe and that the time people are held is kept to a minimum.

“It’s clear that across the country airports that have experienced either a false alarm … [or] a partial or full mass evacuation have not had adequate plans in place to make sure that evacuation was orderly,” she said.

Experts say proper evacuation plans include proven methods for agency coordination, public communications, traffic control, sheltering and mass care, shelter in place strategies, and cooperation with the Red Cross and other support organizations.

Wasserman Schultz said she expects to address communication problems that arose at the airport. Passengers told the Sun Sentinel they struggled throughout the 12-hour ordeal to get information on what the threat was, what authorities were doing to address it, or how long they might be stranded.

Many told the Sun Sentinel that airport workers they approached were equally uninformed and could provide little to no useful information.

Wasserman Schultz said she would also push the Congress to insist on comprehensive training for airport workers. “Training now seems to be rather cursory or almost none at all,” she said. Workers should learn how to keep themselves safe and how to help guide and inform passengers.

Rep. Wilson agreed that revised training is necessary for TSA workers and others at the airport.

TSA agents wear uniforms that can be mistaken for law enforcement, but they are not armed and are instructed to run or hide when confronted with a possible shooter.

“While it is true that TSA officers are not members of law enforcement, I think it’s safe to assume that most passengers would expect them, as well as other airport and airline personnel, to provide some sort of guidance during a crisis and try to help create calm,” Wilson said in an email to the Sun Sentinel.

A TSA spokeswoman said in a statement to the Sun Sentinel on Friday: “TSA continues to review policies on an ongoing basis.”

TSA and representatives of the airlines have formed a working group to review the Fort Lauderdale shooting and discuss ways to better manage such emergencies at airports nationwide.

That would include how to get passengers off aircraft quickly, even if an airport is shut down. Some in Fort Lauderdale were held on planes for six hours waiting for the all-clear. A briefing report from the working group is expected in the fall, TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said.

In addition, TSA has been holding regular meetings since September with industry executives, law enforcement and aviation security experts on how to improve safety in public areas of the airport that are outside the screening checkpoint. This would include the ticket counter and baggage claim area.

Wasserman Schultz said she is working to find the best way to ensure that a passenger with a firearm in a checked bag is not able to have access to his ammunition in a crowded airport terminal.

Esteban Santiago, the accused gunman in Fort Lauderdale, flew one-way from Alaska, checking only his semi-automatic pistol and ammunition. He then allegedly retrieved the gun from the baggage carousel, loaded it in a bathroom, and came out and killed five tourists.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Democrat who represents much of Broward and Palm Beach counties, said policymakers should focus on enacting sensible gun control measures.

He said the reason people are so quick to panic now is “because the threat is so real.”

“The reason the threat is so real is, all these years after [the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre at] Newtown, we haven’t even been able to discuss ways to prevent school shootings.”

Broward County, which runs the Fort Lauderdale airport, has hired the consulting firm Ross & Baruzzini Inc. to do an after-action report, looking at the handling of the shooting and its aftermath. The report is expected to be completed in July.

County Mayor Barbara Sharief said she would not comment on potential changes in airport policies until seeing the report. Vice Mayor Beam Furr agreed.

“It’s too early,” he said. “I think we want to wait for the after-action report. We’ll take a good look at it and see our strengths, weaknesses and what needs to be addressed.”

“Most passengers would expect [TSA officers] ... to provide some sort of guidance.” U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson