Mar. 3--The former chief of security at O'Hare International Airport alleged in a lawsuit today that his repeated pleas to improve security lapses went ignored by superiors more concerned about moving forward on costly plans to modernize the airport.
James Maurer, who was appointed to the post four years ago after rising to deputy superintendent during 41 years with the Chicago Police Department, called security at the airport "easily defeatable" and claimed O'Hare ranks as the "least secure airport in the country."
His lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, seeks more than $2 million in damages from the city for his dismissal last September.
A statement issued on behalf of Rosemarie Andolino, the city's aviation commissioner, declined comment on the pending litigation but insisted that safety and security are top priorities at O'Hare.
Mayor Richard Daley defended O'Hare's security, saying it's "a good airport." He brushed off Maurer as "disgruntled."
Maurer expressed reluctance to detail his security concerns because of the sensitive subject, but he said the airport's perimeter needed to be secured with more than a cyclone fence. He also said the utility plants and communications center remain vulnerable.
Perhaps most disturbing, he said, was that up to 10,000 private vehicles are allowed to park in a secured area by the north hangar.
He also said officers assigned to the airport's security staff were unarmed and were rarely able to carry out searches, limiting their effectiveness. And the number of Chicago police officers was slashed, leaving as few as two officers for the entire airport on some nights, he said.
Maurer said he was fired in retaliation for pressing for security improvements that focused largely on infrastructure and would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to implement, cutting into the expensive O'Hare modernization project.
On the day he was fired, Maurer said, he had a disagreement with Ellen O'Connor, a top aide to Andolino. He alleged O'Connor falsely accused him of physically assaulting her to justify his dismissal.
Maurer said O'Connor overheard him put down the value of a training session and then called him rude.
"I'm rude? The rudest person I've ever met in my life is calling me rude?" Maurer said he told O'Connor. "And I just threw up my hands and walked out."
Within half an hour, he was fired, he said.
