DANGER ROOM Editor Noah Shachtman is at JFK airport in New York where there's been a security breach that's thrown terminal three into chaos. Gotta love the wild 'n crazy world of TSA, where security breaches mean you trap all the passengers in an enclosed area, leaving them completely vulnerable.
Anyhow, as Noah reports:
I'm at New York's JFK airport, waiting to catch a flight to Los Angeles. And there's been a major security breach here at the Delta terminal, number three.
According to TSA workers, someone ran through the security checkpoint, maybe an hour ago. No one has been allowed to pass through, since. There must be a thousand people here who can't get on their flights.
The TSA workers have no idea what's going on -- "We know as much as you," one told me.
Passengers are generally calm. But that could change, quick. Passengers in the "sterile areas" were just told to "evacuate the building."
Cell service has been spotty - I'll try to update as things develop...
Got another update here:
*The deeply crazy part of this fiasco is that it's created an even more hazardous situation than any freak rushing through a checkpoint ever could. God forbid someone should rush into the terminal with explosives strapped to his chest. The death toll would be in the hundreds. And if that wasn't scary enough, you should hear the soft rock blasting from the airport's speakers. And the occasional pre-recorded bromides against smoking in the terminal, handing other people your bags, etc...
Noah's heading back to LA, but I'm betting he'll be slightly delayed.
Ryan Singel has additional details. And here's one more update from Noah:
I'm on the plane, finally, after navigating a thousand-person crush or nervous, angry fliers. The calm I described earlier quickly dissipated, after a series of blunders by Delta officials.
TSA guards had the situation pretty well in hand. A deep-voice manager cracked jokes and kept people orderly. "Worst
I've seen in five years," said one guard. But things seemed under control, mostly.Then, over the loudspeakers, Delta suddenly began announcing final boarding calls - for Barcelona, for Austin, for Cincinnati, for Vegas, and for L.A.
- Travelers, terrified of missing their flights, began to waive their boarding passes in the air, and elbow their fellow passengers aside. Soon,
EVERYONE was on an about-to-depart flight. Tensions rose, as people closed in, tighter and tighter -- all the while, TSA guards ordering shoes off, belts undone, and laptops out. Curses flew in a half-dozen tongues.*I slipped through - a lifetime of negotiating New York's subways makes me pretty good at coping with throngs. I started walking to my gate, as dozens and dozens sprinted by me. One man ran with an infant, the child's head bobbing violently.
An old couple limped at top speed, their faces frozen in panic.
Austin-bound.I told the trio of Delta attendants at the Austin plane's gate to stop with all the dire announcements - that they were scaring people, bad. The three looked back at me, silently, with what could only be described as fuck-you eyes. I gave the same speech to the Cincinnati-bound gate crew. Not her problem, she shouted.
