Posted on 01/01/2010 7:00:08 AM PST by mylife
DFW Security Checkpoint Left Unattended for 90 Minutes Agency suspends 3 agents, calls incident "serious and unacceptable" By GRANT STINCHFIELD Updated 8:05 PM CST, Thu, Dec 31, 2009
The Transportation Security Administration has launched an internal investigation after a security checkpoint at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was left unattended and unsecured for 90 minutes earlier this month.
Three agents have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
The agency said the agents left the checkpoint at Gate E8 from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Dec. 16. Personnel from the airport's Department of Public Safety discovered the gate was not secure during a routine patrol, the TSA said.
TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley called it a "serious and unacceptable security failure."
"An immediate review of closed-circuit television tapes verified that no passengers or items entered the sterile area while the gate was unsecure," the TSA said in a statement.
But Dallas-based aviation security expert Denny Kelly said an hour and a half is too long. It could have put thousands of travelers at risk, he said.
"When you leave a gate like that open, they can go anywhere they want all over the world and never have to be checked again," he said.
Denny said the airport should have been emptied and rescreened passengers.
"They want to talk about our security, how good it is, but it's not good," Kelly said.
McCauley said the TSA is focused ensuring the lapse in security never happens again.
The TSA's complete statement on the incident:
On Wednesday, December 16, 2009, at the conclusion of screening operations at DFW, the "E8" checkpoint gate was not appropriately secured. Personnel from the DFW Department of Public Safety (DPS) discovered the unsecured gate during a routine patrol of the area. DPS promptly contacted TSA, at which time officers responded and properly secured the gate. An immediate review of closed circuit television tapes verified that no passengers or items entered the sterile area while the gate was unsecure.
TSA finds this unacceptable and has moved swiftly to conduct a complete investigation and take all appropriate corrective action.
First Published: Dec 31, 2009 4:53 PM CST
CC video at the link
Which one? I thought the Detroit flight was Christmas day?
Cant we just kill them before they get to the airport. Once there it is unlikely they will be caught, just saying.
Stunning. And yet the TSA goes after bloggers reporting on the TSA rule book—released by the TSA. Is this what the Mad Hatter (Alice Through the Looking-glass) would look like if he ran a country’s security?
Oh Gosh! I should have proof read the article.
This morning on WBAB in Dallas they reported that the incident occurred 12/26/09
I was once walking back across the border from Palomas, Mexico, and the US border post was unattended. I stopped in the building on the US side, waited for a while, yelled for someone, then gave up and went to my car in the border parking lot. It was odd.
I’m sure that unionizing the TSA will solve this problem
How could the guards leave their post without signing in the replacements? That means the guards don’t give a sh!t about professionalism and are probably protected by a union from any corrective action or firing. They should be immediately and summarily dismissed and never hired again anywhere. As should their supervisors for failing to train them properly.
And the dims want to unionize the TSA. Then they could never be punished.
WBAP
Sheesh
“Dallas-based aviation security expert Denny Kelly said an hour and a half is too long”
How about ONE SECOND is too long
Probably a large scheduled shipment was coming through.
Every day in this country is getting to be like a Mad Hatter day...
Was it siesta time?
I can hear it now... Those historic words of Tom Daschle regarding airport security:
“We don’t professionalize until we Federalize”
Could have would have should have. Ho hum is all I can say for that lapse.
Come on folks, what is needed is profiling for al Qaida terrorists.
How much professionalism do you expect for $25k a year?
The “system” obviously worked, since no one got past the checkpoint. By Stupid Napolitano logic...
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