Both lawmakers and the president have called for airport security reviews. | REUTERS Should airport officers be armed?

Friday’s slaying of a Transportation Security Administration officer at Los Angeles International Airport is fueling calls from union leaders to give some of the agency’s employees guns, handcuffs and the power to make arrests.

But that would be a tough sell for many conservatives in Congress, where some lawmakers until recently were trying to take away TSA agents’ badges.


The fatal shooting of Gerardo Hernandez and the ensuing gunfight at LAX called attention to a long-running debate over the powers of TSA, whose screeners aren’t considered law enforcement officers even though many of them wear badges. The 39-year-old Hernandez was the first TSA officer killed in the line of duty in the agency’s history.

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Federal prosecutors have filed homicide and other charges against 23-year-old Los Angeles resident Paul Ciancia, whom authorities have suggested was specifically targeting TSA employees.

Both lawmakers and the Obama administration have called for reviewing airport security procedures after the shooting spree. But union officials are already offering a concrete proposal: create a new category of TSA agent in addition to the 45,000 existing screeners. People in the new positions would be law enforcement officers, who could carry handcuffs and firearms as well as make arrests.

Union leaders say the enhanced status would help protect an unfairly demonized workforce, as well as security checkpoints like the one where Friday’s mayhem began.

“We feel a larger and more consistent armed presence in screening areas would be a positive step in improving security for both [security officers] and the flying public,” said J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “The development of a new class of TSA officers with law enforcement status would be a logical approach to accomplishing this goal.”

On Friday, union officials initially suggested simply giving every agent arrest powers. But they said Monday that that would be only a half-step.

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“Just saying you can arrest somebody, how far is that going to get you?” asked AFGE general counsel David Borer. “The focus needs to be on how do we deliver the right amount of security at the checkpoint.”

But Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), who chairs the House Homeland Security subcommittee that oversees the TSA, told POLITICO in a statement Monday that he opposes arming the TSA’s massive screener workforce.

“There are practical, risk-based steps that can be taken to combat potential attacks without arming 45,000 TSA screeners,” Hudson said. He added: “In the wake of this attack it is of critical importance to review coordination and communication between TSA and local police, whose job it is to protect airports, as well as review TSA’s own programs for detecting and disrupting terrorist attacks.”

Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, the subcommittee’s top Democrat, told POLITICO that he would look at the union’s proposal but was worried about the cost.

Richmond added that any solution should look beyond just keeping airports’ security checkpoints safe.

“What if he just went to the baggage claim?” Richmond said of the gunman. “It has to be broader than just the checkpoint. You want to have a safe place from the parking garage to the airplane.”

Republican lawmakers’ proposals for TSA have often focused on reining in the agency, which they portray as an overbearing force that harasses innocent Americans. As recently as 2011, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill that would have prohibited TSA employees without law enforcement training from using the title of “officer.” It also would have prohibited them from wearing uniforms or badges that resemble those worn by law enforcement. The bill died after attracting 42 Republican co-sponsors.

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This past June, Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) sponsored an amendment to eliminate the agency entirely.

“Just about the only thing the TSA is consistently good at is using its extensive powers to violate Americans’ civil liberties,” Broun said while introducing his amendment, which failed on a voice vote.

The introduction of law enforcement officers would represent a major shift for the TSA, which is focused mostly on screening cargo and passengers for bombs, firearms and other dangerous materials. Christoper Bidwell, the vice president for security and facilitation at Airports Council International-North America, the major trade group for airports, said his organization would oppose arming the screeners en masse.

“ The armed response should be kept to law enforcement, whether that’s federal or local law enforcement officers,” he said.

Bidwell also said it wouldn’t necessarily make sense to station an armed police officer at every security checkpoint, and that such proposals should be evaluated on the local level. In Los Angeles, police union officials ha d voiced con cerns about a lack of armed officials at security checkpoints .

At a news conference Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder didn’t get into details about the kinds of changes the administration might contemplate in response to Friday’s attack.

“The investigation’s obviously under way and a part of that investigation will be to review the security measures that were in place, not only at LAX, but I think a review of the security arrangements that exist in other airports as well,” Holder said.

The motive for the shootings remains a mystery, and Ciancia was listed in critical condition after airport police shot him in the head and leg. The FBI said Ciancia had a handwritten letter stating that he wanted to kill multiple TSA officers and “instill fear in your traitorous minds.”

Borer, from the union, suggested Ciancia’s apparent hatred of the TSA was linked to anti-agency rhetoric in Congress and the media.

“Is it directly related?” Borer asked. “I don’t know. I don’t pretend to know. But if all you hear on Fox News and the right-wing media day after day, that TSA is the enemy and these officers are molesting people.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) agreed, saying conservative organizations had created a “culture of hatred” against TSA.

“We’ve got to be more careful as leaders in the country in how we’re treating the TSA,” said Swalwell, who serves on the subcommittee that oversees the agency. He added, “When you demonize these folks the way you do, you fire up extremists.”

While the TSA has a poisonous reputation among some in Congress, it has a broader approval among the American public. A 2012 Gallup survey found that 54 percent of Americans thought the agency was doing a good or excellent job. And this weekend, Borer said, TSA agents heard from people other than “the haters.”

“For the first time, really, on any scale, we have seen really positive comments from passengers since the incident. They’re offering condolences and kind words to our officers on the way through the airport,” he said. “I would like to think that would carry over to the halls of Congress.”