CHICAGO - MARCH 15: Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers staff a checkpoint at O'Hare International Airport on March 15, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. Today TSA personnel are scheduled to begin using the Backscatter Advanced Imaging Technology full-body scanners at the airport. Twenty airports nationwide are now using full-body scanners. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

BY STEVE LASKY ON JAN 13, 2017, SecurityInfoWatch

Like with any horrific shooting or bombing attack, the aftermath is wrought with the inevitable finger pointing, arm-chair quarterbacking, and incredulity about how this could happen here? Unfortunately, the scenario was no different last week following the senseless shooting deaths of five passengers in the baggage claim area of the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

Find out how YOU can become a Certified Protection Officer with the IFPO!

The mass shooting on January 6 occurred in the proximity of baggage claim in Terminal 2, which is shared by both Delta and Air Canada Airlines. While the shooting lasted just over a minute, it seems the plot to carry it out was well planned, as the shooter brought a checked 9 mm pistol onto the airplane from his origination point in Anchorage, Alaska with the intent of carrying out the carnage in Florida. Immediately after retrieving his pistol from his checked bag, the shooter calmly strolled through the claims area firing at random until he ran out of ammunition. Once his weapon was empty he simply laid down on the floor and surrendered.

 

However, as stunning and gut-wrenching as the Ft. Lauderdale airport shooting was, it is good to put context to it in the big picture of airport security. Within the last 35 years, there have been 25 airport terrorist attacks and/or shootings at international airports outside the United States. Previous to last week’s Ft. Lauderdale attack, there had only been three fatal encounters at a U.S. airport.

 

The most deadly airport attack in America was on December 29, 1975, at LaGuardia Airport. A bomb blast in the TWA baggage terminal killed 11 and seriously wounded 74. While the bombing was never solved, investigators believe that Croatian nationalists were likely behind the attack.

Membership has its privileges! JOIN the IFPO and see the benefits!

The check-in counters at the Tom Bradley Terminal of Los Angeles International airport was where the other shooting incident occurred on July 4, 2002. A lone gunman armed with two pistols opened fire on passengers checking in for an El Al flight to Israel. The Egyptian national assailant shot and killed a ticket agent at point blank range and a 46-year old Israeli who was huddled with other passengers near the counter. The shooting of a TSA agent at LAX in 2013 was the last fatality at a U.S. airport.

 

Many airport security professionals agree that when you begin assessing the safety of America’s airports, it is important to avoid the obvious knee-jerk reactions that follow any tragedy. Keeping threats in perspective is crucial.

 

In a blog posted on his Leading Edge Strategies website this week, Jeffrey Price, airport security expert and author of several aviation security textbooks wrote: “In the wake of the Ft. Lauderdale active shooter attack, three ‘solutions’ are beginning to emerge. Unfortunately, many of these solutions will provide the public a sense of safety, and politicians will appear to be doing ‘something’, but the measures could cost a lot of money and the only return on the investment is that flying becomes more difficult, and possibly, makes air travel even less safe. Plus, money spent on largely useless measures is money that could be better spent doing actions that actually increase the protection of the public areas.”

Read the rest of the story here.