ALERT: New York- JFK Airport Security Breached on Monday (February 21, 2017)
February 21, 2017
Alert – New York: JFK Airport Security Breached on Monday
Yesterday at New York JFK Airport, as many as 11 people were able to pass through an unattended TSA
checkpoint at 6 a.m. Local authorities are at odds over what occurred. New York Daily News reports that the
breach happened at the JetBlue terminal (Terminal 5).
According to CNN:
A security incident at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday has
federal and local authorities at odds over what happened. The Port Authority says that
11 people went through an unattended TSA PreCheck security checkpoint at the airport
around 6 a.m. Monday.
The TSA alerted Port Authority about the lapse roughly two hours later, according to Joe
Pentangelo, the senior police public information officer at the Port Authority of New
York and New Jersey. By that time though, they could not find the 11 people as the
“travelers in question boarded various flights,” Pentangelo said in a statement.
Port Authority police identified three of the passengers who went through the
unattended checkpoint through video and sought to identify the remaining eight.
Meanwhile, the TSA called the incident a “possible security incident” and said it had
affected just three passengers.
Out of the 11 people walking through the unattended checkpoint, three of them set off
the metal detector, reported CNN’s affiliates WCBS and WABC.
The TSA said in a statement: “Early reports indicate 3 passengers did not receive
required secondary screening after alarming the walk through metal detector. All
personal carry-on bags received required screening. A K9 team was present at the
checkpoint at the time of the incident.”
A TSA official said it had been determined that the measures taken concerning the three
passengers were “all that was necessary.”
“TSA works with a network of security layers both seen and unseen. We are confident
this incident presents minimal risk to the aviation transportation system,” the agency
stated on Monday.
The TSA said it would “take appropriate action” once a review was complete.
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