MSNBC:

Security breach locks down Newark airport
TSA says man walked through checkpoint at Terminal C
Sun., Jan. 3, 2010

NEWARK, N.J. - Airline passengers have begun boarding their planes at a New Jersey airport after their 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 had been seen walking 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 and moved to the open side to go through screening again.

NBC News producer Katie Primm, who was on board a plane scheduled to depart, said passengers were taken off the jet for rescreening.

Earlier, 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.

Joshua Brown of Toronto, who was waiting in the terminal to board a flight for Lisbon, said the terminal lobby was packed with perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 people, waiting for a large number of security forces to complete their checks.

About two hours after the incident, he said, "The security checkpoints are still empty and nobody is queuing up."

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-Qaida operatives in Yemen.