LA airport police president calls for full-body scanner implementation

The head of the Los Angeles Aiport Peace Officers Association today urged the federal government to quickly adopt body scanners on a large scale to keep explosives off jets.

"Airport security checkpoints can no longer rely on metal detectors as the primary screening technology because al-Qaida operatives have turned to using devices with little or no metal," association President Marshall McClain said in a statement.

On Christmas Day, a device containing pentaerythritol tetranitrate – reportedly the same chemical that so-called shoe bomber Richard Reed attempted to detonate on an American Airlines flight in Dec. 2001 – was used in a failed attempt to bomb a jetliner near Detroit.

"This incident is a solemn reminder of the need for proactive airport security at U.S. airports, especially at Los Angeles International Airport, long considered the state's top terrorist target," McClain said.

LAX is one of 19 airports currently using whole-body imagers, but the devices generally are deployed only after a passenger has been selected for secondary screening, McClain said.

"Testing of whole-body scanners at LAX has shown them to be highly effective in keeping dangerous materials off airplanes," McClain said.

"The Transportation Security Administration should be allowed to rapidly expand to 100 percent the population of airline passengers screened with the next-generation equipment. All available technology and tools must be used to fix an obvious gap in security that puts airline travelers and crew members at risk."

Whole-body scanners have been frequently decried as representing an invasion of privacy. But McClain said his group is "satisfied" that the TSA has addressed the privacy concerns regarding use of the new equipment.

McClain noted that the National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter warned on Saturday that al-Qaida and other terrorists are working to test U.S. defenses and launch an attack on American soil.

"It is crucial that we heed the warnings," McClain said. "Remember, LAX has been a target of interest of al-Qaida since Ahmed Ressam was convicted of planning to blow up LAX on New Year's Eve 2000."

The LAAPOA represents over 425 sworn police officers and firefighters of the Los Angeles Airport Police Department who are assigned to LAX, Ontario International Airport and Van Nuys Airport, three facilities operated by city agency Los Angeles World Airports.