Posted on 10/20/2003 11:16:00 PM PDT by kattracks
BALTIMORE (AP) — A college student who allegedly hid box cutters and other banned items on four airliners to expose weaknesses in U.S. security was charged with a federal crime Monday, and a prosecutor said he committed a "very serious and foolish action."The banned items were not discovered on two of the planes until a month after Nathaniel Heatwole, 20, had alerted authorities about his scheme via e-mail. He was charged Monday with taking a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft, then released without bail for a preliminary hearing Nov. 10.
On Sept. 15, federal authorities received an e-mail from Heatwole saying he had "information regarding six security breaches" at the Raleigh-Durham and Baltimore-Washington airports between Feb. 7 and Sept. 14, according to an FBI affidavit.
Objects aboard Southwest Airlines planes that landed in New Orleans and Houston were not found until Thursday.
The discovery triggered stepped-up inspections of the entire U.S. commercial air fleet — roughly 7,000 planes. But after consulting with the FBI, the Transportation Security Administration rescinded the inspection order and no other suspicious bags were found.
According to authorities, Heatwole told federal agents he went through normal security procedures at airports in Baltimore and Raleigh-Durham. Once aboard, he said, he hid the banned items in compartments in the planes' rear lavatories.
Heatwole told authorities that he left packages on four of the six planes, according to U.S. Attorney Thomas DiBiagio. Other packages were found on April 13 and April 14 in planes in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Tampa, Fla., but it was unclear when they were planted.
The TSA, which received Heatwole's e-mail, did not send it to the FBI until last Friday. FBI agents then located Heatwole and interviewed him.
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, whose department includes TSA, said officials "will go back and look at our protocol" for handling such e-mails. He said that the agency gets a high volume of e-mails about possible threats and that officials decided that Heatwole "wasn't an imminent threat."
The e-mail provided details of where the plastic bags were hidden — right down to the exact dates and flight numbers — and even provided Heatwole's name and telephone number.
The charge against Heatwole, a junior at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., carries up to 10 years in prison.
Defense attorney Charles Leeper told U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Gauvey that it was Heatwole's "sincere desire to return to college and attend classes." Leeper and Heatwole's family would not comment after the hearing.
Gauvey set a number of conditions for Heatwole's release. Among other things, he must not enter any airport or board any airplane.
According to an FBI affidavit, Heatwole's signed e-mail "stated that he was aware his actions were against the law and that he was aware of the potential consequences for his actions, and that his actions were an `act of civil disobedience with the aim of improving public safety for the air-traveling public.'"
However, DiBiagio said Heatwole's conduct "was not a prank. This was not poor judgment. ... It was not a test. It was not a civil action. It was a very serious and foolish action."
Deputy TSA Administrator Stephen McHale said Monday's court action "makes clear that renegade acts to probe airport security for whatever reason will not be tolerated, pure and simple."
"Amateur testing of our systems do not show us in any way our flaws," McHale said. "We know where the vulnerabilities are and we are testing them. ... This does not help."
Guilford is a Quaker college with a history of pacifism and civil disobedience that dates to the Civil War. Heatwole is not a Quaker but shares many of the tenets of the faith, including a belief in pacifism, according to a February 2002 interview with The Guilfordian, the campus newspaper.
The student, a double-major in political science and physics, refused to register for the draft when he turned 18 as required by law, according to the interview. Instead, he returned a blank registration form to the Selective Service System with a letter explaining his opposition.
The FBI affidavit, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, said Heatwole breached security at Raleigh-Durham airport on Sept. 12 — the day after the two-year anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks. He did it again Sept. 14 at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
His bags contained box cutters, modeling clay made to look like plastic explosives, matches and bleach hidden in sunscreen bottles, the affidavit said. Inside were notes with details about when and where the items were carried aboard. They were signed "3891925," which is the reverse of Heatwole's birthday: 5/29/1983.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 hijackers used box cutters to take over four airliners, box cutters and bleach are among the items that cannot be carried onto planes.
Yea, sooo serious that they forced a release upon him!
Of course it doesn't help. The bureacrats want the public to think that it's now extremely difficult to smuggle weapons/bombs onto an airliner, thanks to their new police powers and federal airport SS. Heatwole has publicly exposed the lie--and for that, they will never forgive him.
Yup - he embarassed the federales.
Perhaps HE should have given THAT scenario more thought before performing such a "selfish" and "stupid" act?
I would wager a guess that this act of stupidity on his part didn't come from his parents or friends...if he has any friends.
And ambrose is right. This young man would not last in prison.
In the law, there is a doctrine known as "Mens Rea." The idea is that some "criminal intention" must be found in an act for the act to be considered criminal conduct. The doctrine has a long history in the English common law. But now we have strict liability statutes and you may violate a statute even though you have no actual criminal intent. Federal law is all strict liability and if you step over the line you will reap a very hard penalty.
The prosecution of this young man is all about protecting and saving the airlines. 'Nuff said about that issue.
Hope the Feds decide to give him a break. Otherwise he will spend very hard time in prison.
Funny, it sure looks that way to me.
Thanks for the explanation, but do you not, like, think we didn't see, like, "Legally Blond?" ;)
Unbelievable! What a--holes!
Yep he sure did. He showed TSA and the government as a flock of fools. Being pompous self-important fools, they are naturally very sensitive about this.
A quick timeline -- kid puts items on plane on day 1, kid e-mails TSA on day 1 and tells them which flights were compromised, and in what way -- SWA employees find items on day 40 (more or less) -- TSA forwards e-mails to FBI on day 41.
Now, tell me about the bureaucratic vulnerability. The test isn't only that something got by the screener. The test is also how the TSA reacts to information. Bureaucratic behavior is predictable, inefficient, and defensive in nature.
Hmmm... if an amateur can do this, imagine what a pro could do.
Meanwhile, my fiance's 80 year-old Danish grandmother gets pulled aside for a secondary inspection. I feel so much safer.
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