Newark Airport Security Breach caused by Security Guard Leaving Post
The cause of the Newark Airport security breach on Sunday has been identified with video cameras. It’s been found that one of the Transportation Security Administration’s own security guards left his post unattended, according to an agency spokeswoman Ann Davis yesterday.
On Sunday, a man walked the wrong way through security to greet a woman, which prompted a security breach that shut down Terminal C at the international airport for hours and forced thousands of passengers to be rescreened. The event, which was notified to security by another passenger, caused a lot of chaos with many flights being delayed - most of which were Continental Airlines services. The man who walked the wrong the way through security wasn’t found, but the security videos didn’t miss everything that happened.
According to the footage, the security guard on duty is seen walking away from his post just before the unknown man walks through. Spokeswoman Davis said that the surveillance tape from the airport shows the officer clearly. They plan to use this hard-learned lesson to reinforce the tight discipline and sharp focus that all of their officers around the country should have, ensuring that they keep the public’s trust, she added.
On Monday, the officer was reassigned to duties that didn’t involve screening passengers. Then on Tuesday he was placed on administrative leave, Davis said, adding that the agency takes full responsibility for what happened.
She also said earlier this week, that even though the unknown man was never caught, rescreening all the passengers eliminated any threat he could have presented, as they made sure he didn’t pass anything off to anyone or introduce anything into the environment.