

17 December 2013, by Jeff Plungis (bloomberg.)



The U.S. Transportation Security Administration may shift teams of specially trained officers that do random searches at train and bus stations to become a permanent fixture at airports.



The biggest short-term change to agency practices after the Nov. 1 Los Angeles International Airport shooting has been moving some of its 37 Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, teams around the U.S. from surface-transportation settings to airports, Administrator John Pistole said at a conference in Washington today.



“I immediately moved some to airports, to have a greater visible deterrent there,” Pistole said. “We’re looking at the possibility of continuing that.”



TSA officials said after the shooting, in which the agency for the first time had an employee killed while on duty, that areas in the front part of airports like ticketing counters were vulnerable to attack.



The agency doesn’t provide security between the curb, where passengers are dropped off, and the security checkpoint.



The VIPR teams, which conduct random searches at subway stations, bus terminals and sporting events, have been criticized by some members of Congress as being too far removed from TSA’s mission of securing U.S. airports.