A 28-year-old Piscataway, N.J., man faces charges he breached security at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday, prompting officials to empty a terminal, which delayed flights for upwards of six hours, The Associated Press reported.
The incident caused massive delays as passengers who already passed through security had to be re-screened following the breach.
Officials say the man entered the airport’s secure Terminal C through an exit. The man passed by a security post that a TSA guard left unattended.
Following the breach, an officer working the “exit lane was reassigned to non-screening duties pending TSA’s decision on further disciplinary action,” the TSA said in a statement. “On Tuesday, January 5, the officer was placed on administrative leave.”
Following the breach, authorities disclosed that surveillance cameras did not record the incident. However, a Continental Airlines camera did record the breach. That video was released in response to pressure from U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.
On a related note, a new survey by Destination Analysts found that 47 percent of American leisure travelers say they either agree or strongly agree that the TSA’s “passenger screening techniques are currently not sufficient to ensure my safety when traveling by air.” Roughly 20 percent of travelers disagree with the statement and think the TSA’s screening measures are adequate, the survey revealed.
The incident is just one of many involving airports or airlines in recent days.
On Friday, a 46-year-old Virginia man, Muhammad Abu Tahir, was arrested in Colorado after he refused to follow flight crew instructions on an Atlanta-to-San Francisco AirTran Airways flight. On Christmas Day, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines airplane as it neared the Detroit airport, according to authorities.