Massport security director to be fired
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff, 10/01/01
purred by repeated security breaches at Logan Airport, Acting Governor Jane Swift plans to remove Massachusetts Port Authority security director Joseph Lawless from his post, administrative source said today.
Joseph Lawless (AP Photo)
From the Globe Archives:
Lawless defends qualifications
Weld defends Lawless
Lawless sought free rein
Political ties strong at Logan
Weld backers hired at Logan
The source said Swift is actively pursuing well-known law enforcement leaders, including former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, to take over the job tempporarily.
As for Lawless, who has been under fire since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the source said: ``He's being moved out.''
Lawless, who was Governor William F. Weld's former security director and driver, has insisted that he is not to blame for the hijackings of two planes that departed Logan and were crashed into the World Trade Center.
But, in recent days, despite stepped-up presence of state police at Logan, several security breaches have occured. This weekend, a Natick salesman said he walked from his car to a US Airways gate at Terminal B without encountering a security check of any kind.
Lawless also set off a dispute the day after the attacks when he refused to allow the participation of the U.S. Marshals in a planning meeting on airport security. Lawless's rebuff was followed by an apology from Massport executive director Virginia Buckingham. |
