NJ Lawmakers Order Probe Of Newark Airport Security Breach; TSA To Blame

N.J. Senators Call For Tighter Security At Newark Liberty International Airport



Using words like "unacceptable," and "nightmare of chaos," New Jersey’s two U.S. senators today called for an investigation into the security breach that locked down the main terminal of Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday night.

Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez recommended that all airport terminal exit points be adequately staffed and that all airport video cameras be functioning and immediately available to Transportation Security Administration officers.

When TSA officers tried to review footage from a camera that was supposed to be monitoring the exit corridor where a man walked undetected past a security officer, they realized the camera system hadn’t been working for six days.

"That’s like having a fire truck with a flat in it and nobody bothers looking at it until the alarm goes off," Lautenberg said in a news conference at the airport.

That broken camera led to a domino effect of delays and missteps for officials — trying to get the video from Continental Airlines, calling a number different from Continental’s operations center and calling the Port Authority 80 minutes after the breach occurred.

Terminal C was locked down for nearly six hours, stranding thousands of people at the terminal and delaying flights around the world.

Menendez said time is not a luxury when there is a potential for a terrorist attack.

He called for a proactive approach to airport security saying there is a need to stay "10 steps ahead of the terrorists, not one step behind."

The TSA has since stationed security officers in a more strategic location that allows them to better watch the exit corridors at Newark Liberty and ordered that its security staff regularly check to ensure the video cameras are operating.

Lautenberg said it remains unclear whether the man who breached security was scouting for a later event, or was a harmless guy trying to catch up with a friend.

The senator has scheduled a Senate Commerce Committee hearing later this month to look into the security snafu that paralyzed one of America’s busiest airports.







Broken Surveillance Camera At Newark Airport Led To Missteps, Delays During Lockdown


A video surveillance camera supposedly monitoring the corridor where a major security breach occurred at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday had not been working for six days, several officials revealed today.

The camera problems were discovered only after security officers were alerted by a bystander who saw an unidentified man walk through the passenger exit area inside Terminal C unchallenged. But without a working camera, TSA officers found themselves unable to immediately review the video to help them find the mystery man, according to officials now looking into the incident.

The new disclosures came from a senior security official with Continental Airlines, a spokesperson for the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and others.

Lautenberg was briefed on the failures at Newark Liberty and immediately scheduled a hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee, of which he is a member, to look into what happened. He said he was stunned the camera was not working,

"I’m enraged," he said. "There are 35 million people passing through Newark Airport. A mishap can be catastrophic."

According to accounts from the various sources, the broken camera set off a mad scramble to access a second video system, one owned and operated by Continental Airlines. But the chain of failures did not stop there, two of the officials said.

They contend TSA personnel trying to reach Continental first dialed the wrong numbers, then failed to quickly notify Port Authority police — which is standard procedure.

The new disclosures were at odds with initial reports by the TSA and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which never mentioned a broken camera or phone number mix-up.

The revelations came the same day President Obama held a news conference to lash out at security lapses exposed by the Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a flight headed for Detroit.

According to TSA officials, the incident at Newark Liberty began sometime around 5:20 p.m. Sunday when a man was spotted walking the wrong way down the exit lane of the C-1 security checkpoint inside Terminal C, which is operated by Continental Airlines.

A camera system installed by the Port Authority for use by the TSA was focused on the exit corridor, and screeners went to review the video to see exactly what had happened. However, according to Lautenberg, the camera was not operating and had not recorded anything since Dec. 28.

"TSA was to notify the Port Authority if there was anything awry with the camera," he said. They did not. The Port Authority operates the airport.

A second surveillance system, operated by Continental, also covers the area. But Lautenberg said there were long delays by the TSA accessing the tape vault to access the video. TSA first dialed the wrong numbers to get clearance from Continental, then failed to quickly notify Port Authority police, he said.

A senior security official for the airline, who was familiar with the ongoing review of the incident but declined to be identified because he is not at liberty to publicly discuss security issues, said the TSA failed to contact the airline’s Operations Control Center, which monitors activities at the terminal. Instead, the agency contacted a Continental investigator to try to get access to the airline’s videotape.

The TSA failed to notify Port Authority police of the incident until 6:30 p.m., an hour after the breach occurred, the airline official said.

The breach caused the terminal to be locked down, stranding thousands of passengers and delaying one fourth of Continental’s 400 scheduled flights out of Newark Liberty.

According to the Continental official, the tape shows the unidentified man who caused the breach first approached a TSA officer guarding the exit, and spoke to him briefly around 5:20 p.m. Then, the officer walked several feet out of camera range and away from a podium. The unidentified man glanced in his direction and walked directly through the exit into a secure area where passengers who have already been screened can head for terminal gates. The officer quickly moved back to his post.

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said the agency was reviewing the actions of the security officer, who has been reassigned.

She said TSA followed the same procedures it has used many times in the past to obtain Continental’s tapes, calling the airline’s corporate security office at Newark Liberty. Davis said the TSA was later informed by Continental to call its operations center in the future.

"TSA can assure passengers that the circumstances surrounding the breach are under full review, including exit lane staffing, surveillance video systems and appropriate disciplinary action for the officer on duty during the breach," she said.

Two officers are now stationed in the exit corridor.

Video surveillance systems operating at the nation’s airports must be monitored to be effective, according to Dilip Sarangan, a security expert for Frost & Sullivan, a Mountain View, Calif., consulting firm.

"This tells me someone is not paying attention," Sarangan said.



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Sources: AP, NJ.com, CNN, Google Maps