Ex-LAPD Chief Gets U.S. Post at Airport

Willie Williams, former Los Angeles police chief, was named federal security director of Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport on Wednesday, one of the first directors appointed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

In response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the federal government is assuming control of security at 429 civilian airports.

The directors will have responsibility for making risk assessments, supervising all federal law enforcement activity on airport property, and supervising employees assigned to screen airline baggage, passengers and employees.

“We have promised world-class security and world-class customer service,” Mineta said in swearing in the first seven airport security directors. “These men and women personify that promise.”

Among the seven was Michael J. Aguilar, a retired Marine Corps brigadier general, who will become security director at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field. Aguilar, a helicopter pilot, spent 30 years in the Marine Corps, including service in Operation Desert Storm.

Along with Atlanta and San Diego, directors were named for Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Denver International Airport, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and Ronald Reagan-Washington National Airport.

If the seven appointments are any indicator, Mineta favors retired military brass, former police chiefs and commissioners, and Secret Service officials. Depending on the size of the airport, the job pays between $104,800 and $150,000 a year.

Anthony Zotto, currently on the Secret Service detail for Vice President Dick Cheney, was named to the Ronald Reagan-Washington National Airport post. More than 9,500 applications have been received by the Department of Transportation for the directorships at the 429 airports.

Just how the new directors will work with the myriad public and private security personnel at the airports has yet to be determined.

A spokesman for the Unified Port District of San Diego, which runs Lindbergh Field, said port officials hope to meet soon with Aguilar to develop a security strategy.

Williams, 58, was a police officer in Philadelphia from 1964 to 1988 and then police commissioner from 1988 to 1992. He was chief in Los Angeles from 1992 to 1997, when his bid for a second five-year term was rejected by the Police Commission amid opposition to Williams from then-Mayor Richard Riordan.

Since 1997, Williams has lived in Dallas and been chief operating officer of a medical auditing company founded by his sister. He has also been on the governing board of the Greater Dallas Crime Commission, a group dedicated to fighting police corruption and improving the relationship between police and the public.

In 1998, Williams unsuccessfully sought the police chief job in Washington, D.C. A year later he was quoted as saying he was permanently retired from law enforcement.