A stupid TV crew
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A stupid TV crew
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Fake-bomb TV crew held at New Jersey airport - BBC News
Hope they get the book thrown at them
Fake-bomb TV crew held at New Jersey airport - BBC News
Hope they get the book thrown at them
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This trick has been tried a few times before with a similar result.
CNN 'aviation analyst' 'Scary Mary' Schiavo pulled this stunt at Columbus back in 1999:
Airport-safety Advocate Tied To Bomb Scare - tribunedigital-orlandosentinel
Of course, the perps will inevitably claim that they are journalists exercising their First Amendment rights so they are exempt from airport security laws.
CNN 'aviation analyst' 'Scary Mary' Schiavo pulled this stunt at Columbus back in 1999:
Airport-safety Advocate Tied To Bomb Scare
March 14, 1999|By Washington Post
WASHINGTON - A former Transportation Department inspector general is under investigation for allegedly trying to check luggage that contained what appeared to be a disassembled fake bomb, sources said Saturday.
The discovery of the bag Friday night at the Columbus, Ohio, airport led to the evacuation of hundreds of people from a concourse and the closure of one of two runways for four hours, police said.
Mary Schiavo, the former inspector general, left the federal government in 1996. She wrote a best-selling book Flying Blind, Flying Safe that warned of lax aviation safety and appears frequently on television to comment on air safety. In January, on ABC's Good Morning America, she said she had checked ``fake bomb equipment'' at the same airport but ``didn't get it on planes.''
Richard Morgan, director of public safety at Port Columbus International Airport, said the airport was investigating the incident in conjunction with the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration. Schiavo is ``one of the names mentioned as being involved,'' Morgan said, adding that investigators would interview her. No charges had been filed.
Schiavo was at the airport at the time of the discovery with a film crew from a local TV station, Morgan said.
Frank Scafidi, an FBI spokesman in Washington, said officials were examining what, if any, laws may have been broken. While it is illegal to threaten to bomb a plane or airport, ``absent a threat, there may not be a violation,'' he said.
Schiavo, whose frequent criticism of the FAA has annoyed many U.S. aviation officials, did not return calls left at her home in Columbus.
Morgan and other officials said the bag in question was checked on an America West flight departing for Washington. At about 5 p.m., America West gate agents notified airport police to say they had a bag that, when passed through an X-ray machine, appeared to contain an explosive device. A passenger had checked the bag for the flight but had not boarded the plane, making agents suspicious.
Increasingly, airlines conduct such ``positive bag matches'' to make sure passengers who check bags board planes. But with 2.3 million checked bags a year on domestic flights, it is difficult to do so on every flight.
Eventually, Morgan said, officials decided the situation was so serious that they evacuated the B-concourse - one of three at the airport - and shut down the airport's north runway to have the bag examined at the end of the runway by a team of explosive experts. No bomb was found in the bag, Morgan said, but he would not describe its contents.
Sources familiar with the probe said the bag contained objects that appeared to look like pieces of an ``explosive device.'' Schiavo's name was on the ticket that accompanied the bag, sources said.
Air traffic controllers had to divert planes to the airport's other runway for four hours, Morgan said. ``This caused a disruption,'' he said.
``I don't know if this rises to a violation of the law,'' an official said. ``But something ought to be done about this.''
March 14, 1999|By Washington Post
WASHINGTON - A former Transportation Department inspector general is under investigation for allegedly trying to check luggage that contained what appeared to be a disassembled fake bomb, sources said Saturday.
The discovery of the bag Friday night at the Columbus, Ohio, airport led to the evacuation of hundreds of people from a concourse and the closure of one of two runways for four hours, police said.
Mary Schiavo, the former inspector general, left the federal government in 1996. She wrote a best-selling book Flying Blind, Flying Safe that warned of lax aviation safety and appears frequently on television to comment on air safety. In January, on ABC's Good Morning America, she said she had checked ``fake bomb equipment'' at the same airport but ``didn't get it on planes.''
Richard Morgan, director of public safety at Port Columbus International Airport, said the airport was investigating the incident in conjunction with the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration. Schiavo is ``one of the names mentioned as being involved,'' Morgan said, adding that investigators would interview her. No charges had been filed.
Schiavo was at the airport at the time of the discovery with a film crew from a local TV station, Morgan said.
Frank Scafidi, an FBI spokesman in Washington, said officials were examining what, if any, laws may have been broken. While it is illegal to threaten to bomb a plane or airport, ``absent a threat, there may not be a violation,'' he said.
Schiavo, whose frequent criticism of the FAA has annoyed many U.S. aviation officials, did not return calls left at her home in Columbus.
Morgan and other officials said the bag in question was checked on an America West flight departing for Washington. At about 5 p.m., America West gate agents notified airport police to say they had a bag that, when passed through an X-ray machine, appeared to contain an explosive device. A passenger had checked the bag for the flight but had not boarded the plane, making agents suspicious.
Increasingly, airlines conduct such ``positive bag matches'' to make sure passengers who check bags board planes. But with 2.3 million checked bags a year on domestic flights, it is difficult to do so on every flight.
Eventually, Morgan said, officials decided the situation was so serious that they evacuated the B-concourse - one of three at the airport - and shut down the airport's north runway to have the bag examined at the end of the runway by a team of explosive experts. No bomb was found in the bag, Morgan said, but he would not describe its contents.
Sources familiar with the probe said the bag contained objects that appeared to look like pieces of an ``explosive device.'' Schiavo's name was on the ticket that accompanied the bag, sources said.
Air traffic controllers had to divert planes to the airport's other runway for four hours, Morgan said. ``This caused a disruption,'' he said.
``I don't know if this rises to a violation of the law,'' an official said. ``But something ought to be done about this.''
Of course, the perps will inevitably claim that they are journalists exercising their First Amendment rights so they are exempt from airport security laws.
Last edited by Airbubba; 20th Jan 2018 at 10:00.
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While I would not condone the TV crew's attempt at passing a fake bomb, their actions were most likely prompted by leaked classified reports of TSA's repeated failures at detecting bombs, weapons, and explosives during internal testing just last year.
What's more, the agency's own inspector's office has been repeatedly blocked from receiving information that would assist in evaluating the troubled agency. The agency has also been criticized for failing to adapt to threats, leaving expensive programs in place that have little correlation to calculated risk.
What's more, the agency's own inspector's office has been repeatedly blocked from receiving information that would assist in evaluating the troubled agency. The agency has also been criticized for failing to adapt to threats, leaving expensive programs in place that have little correlation to calculated risk.
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What's more, the agency's own inspector's office has been repeatedly blocked from receiving information that would assist in evaluating the troubled agency. The agency has also been criticized for failing to adapt to threats, leaving expensive programs in place that have little correlation to calculated risk.
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Well, they have, Mr. Scott.
While TSA cites security concerns regarding the sharing of data with their own OIG, the truth is, in order to guarantee program effectiveness, someone needs to watch the watchers.
I understand the need for secrecy with regards to "the enemy", but hiding failures behind "it's classified" is a tactic that's as old as clandestine work itself. That is not to say critical failures should be made public, but as said above, there needs to be oversight in order to maintain a program's effectiveness.
While TSA cites security concerns regarding the sharing of data with their own OIG, the truth is, in order to guarantee program effectiveness, someone needs to watch the watchers.
I understand the need for secrecy with regards to "the enemy", but hiding failures behind "it's classified" is a tactic that's as old as clandestine work itself. That is not to say critical failures should be made public, but as said above, there needs to be oversight in order to maintain a program's effectiveness.
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Sorry for trying to be subtle. I was not doubting you - I only wanted a citation.
If there is a security concern, I would imagine the problem would be with the originating agencies (CIA, NSA) not the TSA. The sort of sensitive information originating out of the TSA should be easily handled by the DHS OIG.
If there is a security concern, I would imagine the problem would be with the originating agencies (CIA, NSA) not the TSA. The sort of sensitive information originating out of the TSA should be easily handled by the DHS OIG.
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Sorry for trying to be subtle. I was not doubting you - I only wanted a citation.
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One of those arrested said they also hoped to start a panic and film that. Complete disregard of the harm this could have caused. I hope the authorities call it terrorism and throw the book at them.
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Longtimer wrote:
"One of those arrested said they also hoped to start a panic and film that. Complete disregard of the harm this could have caused. I hope the authorities call it terrorism and throw the book at them."
Do you have a source for that?
"One of those arrested said they also hoped to start a panic and film that. Complete disregard of the harm this could have caused. I hope the authorities call it terrorism and throw the book at them."
Do you have a source for that?
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TV crew had a vacuum compression device in their luggage. This machine connects to a plastic air sealable bag containing clothing and pulls a vacuum on it, therefore enabling more clothing to be carried in a suitcase. The actual sequence of events is difficult to discern.
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No Fly
At the very least they should be added to the no-fly list. A previous poster is correct; any find will be paid by the Production Coys petty cash account.
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"One of those arrested said they also hoped to start a panic and film that"
Justice Holmes famously wrote:-
The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.... The question in every case is whether the words used ...create a clear and present danger
Justice Holmes famously wrote:-
The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.... The question in every case is whether the words used ...create a clear and present danger
Book thrown at them? For having something that the security team decided "looked like a bomb"?
Without a threat, I doubt that "having something that someone thinks might be a bomb" is actually an offence ... you are of course quite right that their actions were at least stupid, but I very much doubt they will receive anything more than a few sharp words.
Without a threat, I doubt that "having something that someone thinks might be a bomb" is actually an offence ... you are of course quite right that their actions were at least stupid, but I very much doubt they will receive anything more than a few sharp words.
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What has happened to other pax who have claimed, falsely, to have a bomb in their luggage or uttered other provocative statements. They have been removed PDQ and interrogated. What has been the follow up regarding punishment of them. This would seem to fall into the same, or even worse category. I doubt the numpty pax left home with a complete pre-mediated disruption plan; these guys did. If they caused disruption that resulted in delayed flights and other pax missed their connections etc. the lawyers on their behalf would have a field day suing for compensation.
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Tom Carter, TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey, said Friday in a statement. “There is simply no excuse for trying to do something like this knowing it had the great potential to cause panic with the intention of turning that panic into a reality show..."