Air Safety Week: Air Safety Week's Security Breach Report

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Air Safety Week's Security Breach Report
DATE & SITE: October 2005 to January 2006 -- 21 unnamed U.S. airports
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: From October 2005 to January 2006, federal investigators snuck
past TSA screeners with homemade bomb components at 21 airports.
RESULT: The bare-bones results of a Government Accountability Office (GAO)
investigation were leaked on March 18 by NBC News. Thus, there were few details
available, particularly whether "21 airports" represents a 100 percent failure
rate or 21 out of some higher number of total trials. GAO tells Air Safety Week
there can't be any clarification because the report is classified. But some
version of the report might get a public release in the future. Editor's note:
TSA head Kip Hawley didn't dispute the results, adding that they will help the
agency better intercept explosive materials. He also said the GAO investigation
didn't take into account the many layers of security before and after the
passenger checkpoints, and reflects just one part of the security system.

DATE & SITE: March 6 -- Goteborg-Landvetter Airport (GOT), Sweden
AREA*: 8
CIRCUMSTANCES: Five robbers armed with assault rifles broke through a gate and
held up luggage handlers as they were unloading crates of foreign currency from
a plane.
RESULT: The robbers also left a suspicious package, with an antenna protruding
from it, on the tarmac, which prompted the evacuation of part of the airport and
the summoning of a bomb squad. The robbers left in two vehicles, spreading nails
on the road to hamper pursuit. Both vehicles were found burned a few miles from
the airport. SAS Cargo confirmed that the thieves stole some cargo being
transported from a flight from London, but would provide no further details.
Editor's note: An airport security official said the robbery likely was an
inside job. It also echoed a similarly staged hold-up at Arlanda Airport (ARN)
near Stockholm in 2002, when the equivalent of about $5.1 million (U.S.) was
stolen. No one was jailed for that crime.

DATE & SITE: March 6 -- Midway Int'l Airport (MDW), Chicago
AREA*: 8
CIRCUMSTANCES: Mark Mechniek, 22, walked or ran through a gate into a secure
area while a vehicle was leaving.
RESULT: Runway 4 was closed briefly. Police reported that Mechniek was
inebriated. Out of the three perimeter gates at Midway, Mechniek apparently got
through the only one without a security camera. Airport authorities said that
they will retrain 222 aviation security officers and redesign the perimeter
gates. Editor's note: It's not clear how serious the breach was, i.e. if any
time elapsed between Mechniek's getting past the gate and then being detected
inside the airport. An Aviation Department official was quoted saying, "Some
drunk snuck past one of the entry points when they were processing a car there
and we caught him. What's the problem?" Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) scoffed
at the media attention the incident got, saying it must have been a "slow news
day." But it was a Southwest Airlines pilot who originally spotted Mechniek
standing between two runways and called the control tower. Six minutes later, he
was arrested.

DATE & SITE: March  12 -- Seattle-Tacoma Int'l Airport (SEA), Wash.
AREA*: 6
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger found a bullet inside the cabin.
RESULT: Departure of the Alaska Airlines flight, bound for San Francisco, was
delayed for about an hour and a half. TSA officials removed all passengers from
the plane and rescreened them. Nothing else was found. Editor's note: A TSA
spokeswoman said its "fairly unusual" to find a bullet on a plane, adding that
armed law-enforcement officers are regularly present on flights. The agency also
said it was investigating.

DATE & SITE: March 13 -- LaGuardia Airport (LGA), New York
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger, whose swabbed shoes set off the alarm for
explosives, was then selected for a screening, but walked away from the
checkpoint.
RESULT: Authorities cast the incident, which started at 3 p.m. local time, as a
misunderstanding. Apparently, the man was never found. Passengers were evacuated
from the terminal and nine flights were delayed. Services returned to normal by
5 p.m. local time. Editor's note: The passenger left the checkpoint because he
thought he was done with his screening, a TSA spokeswoman said, but was unable
to explain why the passenger wasn't stopped.

DATE & SITE: March 14 -- Narita Int'l Airport (NRT), and 28 other airports in
Japan
AREA*: 9
CIRCUMSTANCES: Japanese-made Winny software, originally intended for music and
video sharing, has helped share airport worker access codes as well.
RESULT: All Nippon Airways says it was first alerted to the leaked data on Nov.
8, 2005, by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, but
refrained going public until "prudent" security measures were taken. Passwords
were already changed on Nov. 11.  Editor's note: On Dec. 8, 2005, another access
code leak in Japan occurred because of a virus in a file-sharing program on a
pilot's personal computer, affecting 16 airports, including Narita and Antonio
BWon Pat Int[sup.3]l Airport (GUM) in Guam. The Winny software has also caused recent
leaks from various other government agencies, including the Japan Maritime Self-
Defense Force, local police departments and hospitals.

DATE & SITE: March 17 -- Wash. National Airport (DCA), D.C.
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: A passenger got through a checkpoint with a box cutter.
RESULT: Security staff were unable to locate the passenger, so everyone was
asked to leave the terminal and be re-screened. Several flights were delayed.
There were no further details on the incident.

DATE & SITE: March 18 -- Tulsa Int'l Airport (TUL), Okla.
AREA*: 3
CIRCUMSTANCES: An unidentified man entered one of the airport's concourses
without being screened at 2:30 p.m. local time.
RESULT: The man did so by using an exit lane that leads from the concourse.
There was a resultant 75-minute delay in operations. Airport officials evacuated
the concourse and several planes were grounded, and passengers who hadn't yet
boarded their planes had to be re-screened. The airport returned to normal
operations at about 3:45 p.m. local time.