If he never let him board what was his coat, book and other property doing at his seat? And how could the flight attendent riffle through his possessions after he had been ordered off the plane while they confirmed his identity.
The Agent boarded two AA flights that day at BWI with a loaded gun. On the first flight, the captain warmly received him. When that flight developed mechanical trouble, the Agent was tranferred to the second AA flight two gates over. They knew he was armed SS before he arrived at the plane. After he was seated, he went to the captain to present his credentials and then the Captain seeing he was of Arab descent went ballistic and asked AA headquarters for pictures of all known terrorists. Never did bother to call the White House to confirm the agents Identity. The Airline finally did so, soon after the plane left. From the point they placed the call until his identity was confirmed was five minutes. The total time the Captain spent on the ground screwing around with asking for the agents photo ID five times and having him fill out AA form three times was 75 minutes. Im not saying he didnt have reason to be concerned but he did not do anything a prudent and reasonable pilot would do to establish the agents identity.