Part One:

Frustrated travelers were delayed for hours Sunday night when officials shut down a terminal at Newark Airport after a man walked into a secure area without authorization.

Dozens of flights were grounded, and thousands of passengers waited late into the night to be rescreened at Terminal C .

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Sari Koshetz said a man was seen walking down a security checkpoint exit lane into the secure area about 5:30 p.m.

Screening was halted in the terminal while authorities looked at surveillance tapes to identify the man, who had not been found.

“If they find the person who did this, he’s going to be in big trouble,” said traveler John Davis.

Passengers in the Continental Airlines terminal were evacuated from the terminal and moved to the open side of the airport to go through screening again.

Part Two:

The unnamed Transportation Security Administration guard apparently failed to see the man enter the secure exit-way at the airport’s bustling Terminal C around 5:30 p.m. Sunday, agency officials said.

All that’s known – based on a review of security video – is that the wrong-way walker left the terminal through another exit about 20 minutes after he entered, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis told The Daily News on Monday…

TSA officials said the agency only learned of the breach after a sharp-eyed bystander – who was waiting in the exit area to pick up a passenger – noticed the man walk into the secure area.

Agency officials quickly confirmed the breach by looking at security video. Other video appears to show the same man leaving the terminal through another exit as quietly as he entered, although it took until about 7:45 p.m. on Sunday to put those pieces together.

The man – who appears on the video to be of Asian descent – remains unidentified, officials said.

The fact remains, Homeland Insecurity bounces wildly forth-and-back between being a focus for every insane jot of political paranoia American politicians can muster – and an easy job opening for the untrained and inept who are glad to get a job for $2 an hour more than minimum wage.




  1. David says:

    Just imagine what would have happened if he was carrying a bottle of water.

  2. Father says:

    To protect and serve.

  3. sargasso says:

    #1. and a tube of personal lubricant.

  4. TThor says:

    Another tragic joke!

  5. Dallas says:

    What a mess. I’m glad I’m not traveling this week – especially CES.

  6. ECA says:

    Must not have been a REAL area to be restricted..
    Otherwise there would have been CAMERAS and a GUARD at the location.

    I WILL BET it was to the TSA bathroom.
    OR
    he was there to meet someone and went IN and then OUT, and the person that he WENT to see, ISNT going to say ANYTHING..

  7. chuck says:

    “If they find the person who did this, he’s going to be in big trouble”

    – But the TSA guards who were obviously incompetent will not be touched.

  8. chuck says:

    “TSA officials said the agency only learned of the breach after a sharp-eyed bystander – who was waiting in the exit area to pick up a passenger – noticed the man walk into the secure area.”

    To any sharp-eyed bystanders out there: please do not point out security breaches to the TSA. It only f*cks things up for the rest of us.

  9. Frustrated Bloggers says:

    Frustrated travelers were delayed for hours but so too were happy travelers as seen in the photo above. The fact remains, blogging security bounces wildly forth-and-back between being a focus for every insane jot of political paranoia American politicians can muster – and an easy job opening for the untrained and inept who are glad to get a job speaking their insecure minds.

  10. fpp2002 says:

    #8, as long as the public remains paranoid about the extremely remote chances of being killed by a terrorist, they’re going to raise the alarm like the little fraidy cats they’ve been trained to be.

  11. ECA says:

    can we get a map and see where the person went??

  12. Zybch says:

    So sad to see what the once great and respected USA has degenerated into all in the name of ‘keeping people safe’.

  13. brm says:

    I think it’s safe to declare the war on terror over.

    The terrorists have obviously won.

  14. brm says:

    FTA:

    ‘”It’s frustrating,” said Atkinson, 33, of Harlem. “I just want to get off.”‘

    LOL

  15. qb says:

    There was a breach at O’Hare last week. Apparently they let a Muslim slip through with his dignity.

  16. rudedog says:

    I do a lot of flying and have always wondered why they don’t simply install turnstiles like they have in subways and/or theme parks or one way doors.

    Here’s to the TSA always making things harder then they have to be.

  17. Rick Cain says:

    I have a feeling it was a CIA agent testing our security in preparation for the next government sponsored attack by “Al Qaeda”.

  18. deowll says:

    So some poor smuck wonders into an unguarded area found out this wasn’t where he wanted to be and left and they want to arrest him?

    Typical government reaction.

    If the guards didn’t find anything and nothing bad happened to anyone the government already knows all they need to know. The guards are incompetent. This guy wasn’t up to anything major. It most likely doesn’t matter who he was.

  19. amodedoma says:

    Mister Magoo strikes again! Maybe it was Leslie Nielsen?

  20. Reader1 says:

    Spending so much on Camera system , face recognition and what not ( I don’t believe Alex Jones now), and this is all we get , they don’t even know who he was .

    He was Asian apparently ,and they all look the same to us so may be that is why we can’t tell who it is, that could explain it , or he was Ninja they are sneaky I bet TSA is not Ninja Proof.

  21. PeterR says:

    If it’s a “secure area” how come people can just walk into it?


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