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L.A. Surface Transportation Inspector Breaks New Ground

News & Happenings

August 23, 2007

Los Angeles-based Surface Transportation Inspector Gene Luevano walks through the Union Pacific Railroad facility at the Port of L.A.-Long Beach.
Los Angeles-based Surface Transportation
Inspector Gene Luevano walks through the
Union Pacific Railroad facility at the
Port of L.A.-Long Beach.

When Gene Luevano signed on with TSA five years ago as a screening supervisor at Los Angeles International Airport, he never dreamed that career progression and increased responsibility would lead him where it has today - working in the L.A. area as a transportation security inspector for surface modes of transportation.

"The best part of my job is not knowing from day to day where my responsibilities will take me," he said while inspecting the Union Pacific Railroad facility at the Port of L.A.-Long Beach. "One day I'm at the port, the next I'm in a subway in downtown L.A. and the third day might find me at the Cajon Pass [a major trucking thoroughfare just east of L.A.]."

Making those rounds, Luevano may conduct on-site inspections of mass transit, passenger rail and other facilities, or identify how long specific rail cars "dwell" - or stay - at a specific site.

But his job goes beyond the many forms of surface transportation, to include merging those modes with other TSA roles. For instance, surface inspectors are key to the integration of VIPR (Visual Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams - made of federal air marshals and security officers from various disciplines - that work with local law enforcement to provide a flexible and unpredictable deterrent at transportation facilities.

Luevano finds his role constantly increasing in responsibility. "Forty percent of the nation's imports come through the Port of L.A.-Long Beach, and then move by rail or trucks around the country," he explained. "As the rail companies continue to expand their operation at the ports, our role becomes increasingly important."

A self-proclaimed railroad history buff, Luevano says that even though the rail industry has been a California lifeline for almost 150 years, significant work in rail security remains. "Airports and airlines have had federal security regulations for dozens of years," he said. "In the six years since 9/11 we have moved forward on the surface side, but no one has ever done this before. We are paving the road, and that's part of the attraction to this job."