Page 110 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS CREATE A SENSE OF URGENCY

“That gave people a structure they could use to decide whether they were
making sound decisions. Then we gave the general managers responsibility
for profits and losses, which had a significant positive impact on behavior
and team building.”

All of Massport’s security procedures were reviewed under Coy’s watch. In
addition to the new baggage-screening system, every fence, door, window,
gate, and tunnel was evaluated for its impact on security. More full-time
law enforcement officers were added to beef up patrols and ensure proper
security checks of vehicles, passengers, and construction workers. Mass-
port checked the fingerprint registries and criminal backgrounds of every
single airport employee, construction worker, and contractor associated
with the remodeling. Coy’s team installed hundreds of surveillance cam-
eras and bomb-resistant garbage bins throughout the terminals and park-
ing garages and put up barriers to keep vehicles away from sensitive
structures. Whenever security threat levels were elevated, Massport insti-
tuted a zero tolerance policy that entailed the immediate impoundment of
all improperly parked cars and trucks on the property.
With input from the Massachusetts attorney general’s office and the
American Civil Liberties Union, Massport implemented a behavior pattern
recognition program in which state police observe and question passengers
and airport employees who exhibit specific behaviors that are regarded as
suspicious. An elite police unit was created and received training in bomb
detection, special operations, antiterrorism, and biological and chemical
weapons. Some of those officers became the first airport security personnel
in the country to be armed with Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns
as they patrolled the passenger terminals, curbs, and parking garages.
Massport also designed and constructed modern security checkpoints to
help the Transportation Security Administration with passenger screening.
That system included upgraded equipment and a better layout to keep
the traffic flowing. It also included exit lane security doors and video
monitoring to prevent the wholesale evacuation of terminals or concourses
if a security breach was suspected.

“The list of Logan’s security initiatives was long, yet security is more than
countermeasures to identified threats. It is mostly about effective leadership,”
Coy said. “The commitment to use scarce resources to meet potential

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