Feds Release Video Of Man Who Breached Newark Airport Security

Full Video footage of the Newark Airport security breach

Video Shows Newark Airport Lockdown Intruder


Federal officials today released a video tape of surveillance footage of an unidentified man who breached security at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday, grounding flights for hours.

The Transportation Security Administration -- which had resisted repeated calls to make the tape available to the public -- finally relented after days of pressure by U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.). Lautenberg said federal officials need to talk to the man.

“I desperately want to see this individual questioned,” Lautenberg said. “Was this just an innocent mistake or was he bird-dogging for someone?”

The tape, about six and a half minutes long, is not dramatic. As has been described earlier, it shows the man embracing a woman at a security checkpoint before she passes through screening. Toward the end of the tape that was made available to the public, he then ducks under a rope used to divide the screening area from the exit corridor.

The quality of the tape being released is not very good and it was not known if the original was sharper.

Lautenberg, whose office released the copy, said the video provides an opportunity for the TSA to enhance the ongoing investigation.

"The more people who see this image, the faster we will find the person in question,” he said.

Lautenberg and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), at a press conference Wednesday, said the federal government should investigate "from the bottom levels" on up to determine how the security lapses occurred.

According to TSA officials, the incident began some time around 5:20 p.m. on Sunday when the man was spotted by a bystander as he walked the wrong way down the exit lane of the C-1 security checkpoint in Terminal C, which is operated by Continental Airlines.

A malfunctioning camera intended to monitor the checkpoint left the TSA unable to quickly review what had happened, forcing them to get access to a separate camera system operated by Continental Airlines, but a series of miscues -- including calls to the wrong number and a failure to call Port Authority police -- badly snowballed, as TSA waited for about two hours before shutting down the terminal as they looked for the intruder.



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Sources: NJ.com, Google Maps