The Wall Street Journal
By Andy Pasztor
Updated May 19, 2016 8:53 p.m. ET
Los Angeles International Airport boosted security measures Thursday, including stepped up police presence in the central terminal area, as a precautionary effort in the wake of EgyptAir Flight 804’s disappearance en route to Cairo from Paris.
Airport officials said the move was based on updated intelligence assessments but wasn’t in response to any specific terrorist threat against the sprawling hub, which straddles Santa Monica Bay and is the country’s busiest airport in terms of a final destination for travelers.
An airport spokeswoman said Los Angeles World Airports, controlled by the city, regularly reviews intelligence and terrorism threat levels. “We have heightened our security posture and enhanced our counterterrorism” measures, according to Belinda Joseph, a spokesman for the airport police force.
The ramped up security means there are extra police patrols near the terminals, and motorists entering the airport are subject to random checks along the roadway. Such entrance checks have been implemented many times before at the airport, particularly after major terrorist attacks or failed attempts elsewhere.
Officials at LAX, as the airport is commonly called, “constantly review the security measures we have in place, and will enhance and improve security as needed,” according to the police spokeswoman
Thursday’s moves aren’t expected to lead to flight or passenger-screening delays. airport officials said.
Another element of the enhanced security focuses on the roughly 48,000 employees at LAX. After reviewing employee access points to secure areas of the airport, officials said they restricted access to more than 150 doors and reduced the number remaining open “to an operational minimum.”
Airport officials also assigned additional law-enforcement resources to monitor employee access points and conduct random screening of aviation workers inside secure areas.
Original article can be found here: http://www.wsj.com
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