While Donald Trump has been consumed by concerns of halting dangerous foreigners from entering the US, the opposite happened on Monday morning, when eleven people walked through an unscreened security lane at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and reprotedly boarded flights to unknown destinations, officials told NBC News. In a total breakdown of security protocol, none of the 11 were checked by Transportation Safety Administration personnel, an airport official and senior law enforcement official said.
The TSA said in a statement that three passengers may not have been rescreened after they set off metal detectors. A senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the incident told NBC News that there was surveillance video of the three setting off the alarms.
The security lapse occurred at the Jet Blue terminal in Terminal 5, when the TSA opened a screening lane shortly after 6 a.m. yet failed to immediately assign screeners. “The screening lane was unmanned, but passengers didn’t know, so they started going through it,” a source said.
Eyewitness News has obtained these photos of 2 people the TSA was looking for after JFK Airport breach https://t.co/IprY8orHM6 pic.twitter.com/7CGPCzpkhk
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) February 20, 2017
The TSA did not notify police for two hours, an apparent violation of protocol that requires immediate notification of the Port Authority Police Department. The sources said the TSA and the Port Authority then canvassed the JetBlue terminal using photos and video screen grabs but could not locate any of the 11 passengers.
“They boarded any number of unknown aircraft to unknown destinations,” a source told the NY Post. “And the biggest problem is TSA took two hours to notify the Port Authority.”
To ease concerns about the breach, however, The TSA said it was "confident" that the incident posed no threat and said those found responsible would be disciplined and retrained "as appropriate." Furthermore, since no flights were grounded, it is clear that authorities did not consider the incident to be sufficiently threatening.
An airport official said the security canvass was completed at 9:05 a.m. and both officials said the passengers are assumed to have boarded flights. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did not return a call for comment.