January 4, 2010 9:41 AM
- Text
TSA Shuts Down Terminal After Breach
Updated at 12:31 a.m. Eastern time
Airline passengers have begun boarding their planes at a New Jersey airport after flights were grounded for hours when a man bypassed security by walking through a checkpoint exit into the secure side of a terminal.
Authorities were searching for the man at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday night.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis says the man walked down an exit lane at Terminal C, which is used by Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc. Screening was halted while air safety authorities looked at surveillance tapes to try to identify the man.
Passengers were taken from the secure side of the terminal to the open side to go through screening again.
The TSA says the terminal was searched thoroughly to make sure no dangerous objects were in it before the boarding began.
CBS News station WCBS-TV in New York reports that the man was seen walking the wrong way through the exit lane around 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, according to a TSA official. The official did not know whether the man arrived on a flight or came in from the street.
The official told WCBS that flights were immediately stopped. Passengers evacuated from the terminal were allowed around 7:45 p.m. Eastern to enter through security checkpoints and be screened again.
A TSA spokeswoman said that people get confused with security checkpoints and enter the secured areas of terminals all the time.
By 9:45 p.m., no announcements had been made over the airport's public-address system. Security officers were instructing passengers, who were expressing frustration over the situation.
Alison Day, 47, of York, England, was supposed to leave for Manchester, England, at 7:30 Sunday night. She was traveling with a party of seven including an 18-month-old and 5-year-old.
"I'm not angry that this is happening, but I'm angry that there was a lack of organization," she said.
She said her party, headed home after a Caribbean cruise, was escorted out of Continental's lounge but given no further instructions.
Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston said it's an airport security issue not involving the Houston-based airline.
A spokesman said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is assisting with the possible security breach, and Davis had no update late Sunday night on the man who walked through the exit.
Also Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration said passengers flying into the United States from nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism and "countries of interest" will be subject to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs.
Starting Monday, all passengers on U.S.-bound international flights will be subject to random screening.
The State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device aboard a Northwest airliner on Christmas Day, has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Airline passengers have begun boarding their planes at a New Jersey airport after flights were grounded for hours when a man bypassed security by walking through a checkpoint exit into the secure side of a terminal.
Authorities were searching for the man at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday night.
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis says the man walked down an exit lane at Terminal C, which is used by Houston-based Continental Airlines Inc. Screening was halted while air safety authorities looked at surveillance tapes to try to identify the man.
Passengers were taken from the secure side of the terminal to the open side to go through screening again.
The TSA says the terminal was searched thoroughly to make sure no dangerous objects were in it before the boarding began.
CBS News station WCBS-TV in New York reports that the man was seen walking the wrong way through the exit lane around 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, according to a TSA official. The official did not know whether the man arrived on a flight or came in from the street.
The official told WCBS that flights were immediately stopped. Passengers evacuated from the terminal were allowed around 7:45 p.m. Eastern to enter through security checkpoints and be screened again.
A TSA spokeswoman said that people get confused with security checkpoints and enter the secured areas of terminals all the time.
By 9:45 p.m., no announcements had been made over the airport's public-address system. Security officers were instructing passengers, who were expressing frustration over the situation.
Alison Day, 47, of York, England, was supposed to leave for Manchester, England, at 7:30 Sunday night. She was traveling with a party of seven including an 18-month-old and 5-year-old.
"I'm not angry that this is happening, but I'm angry that there was a lack of organization," she said.
She said her party, headed home after a Caribbean cruise, was escorted out of Continental's lounge but given no further instructions.
Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston said it's an airport security issue not involving the Houston-based airline.
A spokesman said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is assisting with the possible security breach, and Davis had no update late Sunday night on the man who walked through the exit.
Also Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration said passengers flying into the United States from nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism and "countries of interest" will be subject to enhanced screening techniques, such as body scans and pat-downs.
Starting Monday, all passengers on U.S.-bound international flights will be subject to random screening.
The State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers will face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device aboard a Northwest airliner on Christmas Day, has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al Qaeda operatives in Yemen.
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