Mystery man strolls down the wrong hallway at Newark Airport – terminal closed, flights halted, in security lockdown – UPDATED

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.

I guess we should be relieved he didn’t look like an international terrorist. Whatever that means?

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.

UPDATE: Turns out the TSA had working cameras in the area – but hadn’t set them to record. Their “live” surveillance was useless. They had to contact Continental Airlines and ask to see if they had any useful recordings. Which they did, BTW.

One thought on “Mystery man strolls down the wrong hallway at Newark Airport – terminal closed, flights halted, in security lockdown – UPDATED

  1. Mr. Fusion says:

    Damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If they did nothing and it got out they would be just as heavily criticized.

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