Now is not the time to play politics when it comes to airport safety. But that’s what’s happening locally in Los Angeles and nationally. While politicians are suddenly airport safety experts and clamor to express this newfound knowledge before the media, the voices of the real experts are not heard. Let’s hope that politicians realize that their “crash course” in airport safety does not give them the ability to develop a viable national safety program that will coax Americans to feel safe to fly again. Who are the experts? Law enforcement professionals whose sole goals and expertise are to provide national security. We need to give them carte blanche to provide us with the best airport security in the world without worrying about cost or whether citizens are inconvenienced by the new security measures. Politicians, while full of safety-conscious rhetoric early after the attacks, have already begun to lose focus. Locally, some politicians have shifted their efforts to reopening the parking structures at LAX that were closed by the Federal Aviation Administration, regardless of whether this move will compromise security. Nationally, politicians are back to the silly old game of politics as usual, two parties fighting about which road they will take to get to the same place secured airports, rebuilding confidence in a desperate industry and saving lives. Politicians’ actions are often dictated by what will get them re-elected. Now is not the time to have this cloudy judgment decide airport safety. We need what works no more, no less. We need federal funding and our federal elected officials to do their jobs and to quickly bring a national plan to fruition. We cannot rely on an aviation industry that is dying a fast death, thanks in part to the inaction of our government, nor the airports with their dramatically reduced income, nor cities that can barely make their own budgets or keep their streets safe. We need a national plan with common procedures for every airport. LAX or any other airport can have the most masterful, well-designed plan for security and safety, but if the airport from which a plane has departed doesn’t, it could be all for naught. Any variance to the approved federal security procedures would be only granted to tighten, not loosen, security. For years, airport security experts have been warning the public and those we’ve elected to address the problems of almost non-existent levels of protection in our airports and on our airplanes. The only questions about terrorist attacks were when, where and how. With the risk of attacks so real prior to Sept. 11, why did we think that only El Al, the Israeli airline, required separate exits and entrances to its cockpits, or that it was the only airline that needed well-trained security officials interviewing each passenger, or that it needed to maintain a link to law enforcement to identify each passenger that flies their skies (the same in which we fly)? While there is no excuse for the horrific attack on society as we know it by demented, sick and mindless murderers, when do we begin to accept some of the responsibility for not having been wise enough or visionary enough to take the steps necessary to prevent these kinds of strikes? The country needs the best and the brightest security specialists to give the flying public what it needs peace of mind every time we board a plane. This is not the time for politicians, who know next to nothing about security, to provide the solutions. This is a time for the real professionals, with years of education and training in the field, to do the job. While it is too late for the victims of the Sept. 11 tragedy, let’s not waste their deaths by going back to business as usual. Let’s get serious about airport safety and not just sound serious in front of the television cameras. It’s time to put egos aside and work together for a unified plan of security throughout the U.S. We cannot fail our citizens again. Lee Kanon Alpert, a partner with the Encino law firm of Alpert & Barr, APLC, has represented clients in and related to the aviation industry, served as chair of the Van Nuys Airport Advisory Council for three years and most recently was a commissioner on the Los Angeles World Airports Board of Airport Commissioners from 2000-2001. He can be reached at [email protected].