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Another TSA Folly: Screeners Allow Fake Bomb to Pass Through Security at Newark Airport

Mar. 8, 2013 11:28am Tiffany Gabbay

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel work at the Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

If TSA critics needed any more fodder for questioning the agency, look no further than what happened in late February, when an undercover agent was actually able to smuggle an improvised explosive device through security at Newark Airport. Reports about the TSA’s undercover operation were just made available Friday.

The fake bomb, which was modeled after explosives devices used by “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, was hidden in the TSA agent’s pants, the New York Post reports.

Somehow, the special agent slipped by not one but two security screenings, including a pat-down, at one of the nation’s busiest airports before being given the green light to board a commercial flight.

“This episode once again demonstrates how Newark Airport is the Ground Zero of TSA failures,” a source told the Post.

The undercover agent was one of a four-person team posed as everyday travelers utilizing Terminal B, which services American Airlines, JetBlue and Delta.

According to reports, only one member of the TSA’s undercover team was stopped for “carrying a simulated IED inside her carry-on that was inside a child’s doll.” The red-flag for airport screeners was the fact that the doll had “wires sticking out.”

The agent with the IED in his pants, however, passed undetected through a magnetometer and an additional hands-on screening.

“He did have a simulated IED in his pants,” the source told the Post. “They did not find it.”

The TSA, meanwhile, said in an official statement that it would not reveal details of its undercover operations.

“Due to the security-sensitive nature of the tests, TSA does not publicly share details about how they are conducted, what specifically is tested or the outcomes.”

The TSA and how it conducts itself in America has been at the center of a long-standing debate on how best to secure travelers in a day and age where threats of terrorism are ever-present. Israel is often looked to as a model for efficient and, moreover, effective modes of screening passengers. The issue is that countries like Israel engage in profiling, which while successful, creates consternation among civil rights groups.

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Comments (65)

whitedove47h1
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 1:26pm
Guess the new uniforms didn’t help with intelligence, maybe they do need vets who have smarts….dah

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klatoo
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 1:24pm
Come on. Really?
Since when did anyone ever think catching bombs at airports is TSA’s main purpose. Was I wrong? Yes, I’ll admit that in a random act of vigilence it is possible they might stumble onto something serious every 950 million man hours but I always thought they were there so big government could control you, and of course strip search your grandmother and moIest your children.

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RAMJR
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:57pm
This is not TSA’s fault. The bomb should have been attached to a child’s crotch in a wheelchair, or colostomy bag, or a grandma…I mean, the last thing you can do is profile! I mean, how many angry Muslim terrorists actually live here in America…two? Maybe they were too busy collecting souvenirs in passengers luggage! Hope, Change and Forward!

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- Suq_Madic
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 1:11pm
  Allah forbid you try to bring a flask of Tennessee’s finest on board though.
  
  Report this comment
- Ben__Franklin
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 1:16pm
  Part of the problem is the Agent was not a 15 year old girl with the bomb in her bra. They would have then found it and kept on searching the area.
  
  Report this comment
Independent American
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:54pm
The TSA would not have missed it if it were being smuggled by a defenseless 3-year old in a wheelchair or an aged citizen wearing an adult diaper! I get interrogated for having a handkerchief in my pocket when I go through the X-ray machine.

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The-Monk
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:10pm
If it was shaped like a DVD player or a camera it would never made it through….

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- TheEDGE
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:17pm
  They must have shaped it like a Muslim.
  
  Report this comment
- ofass
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:29pm
  We’d better put Jerky, he can smell his buddies from a mile at least…
  
  Report this comment
- SLAPTHELEFT
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:32pm
  Yup. It had a long nasty beard and smelled like camel crap. They never batted an eyelash. The wanted to feel your 96 year old grandma up instead.
  
  Report this comment
- nbarendt
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:43pm
  LOL you are so right.
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:54pm
  I was going to say it must not have been in his underwear, since that’s the only place they look, but it WAS in his pants….maybe in his socks? If it was a girl, in order to be discovered, it would have had to have been in her bra.
  
  Report this comment
- Ben__Franklin
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:59pm
  Oh, I just thought it was because it was not wearing a diaper.
  
  Report this comment
thegreatcarnac
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:07pm
We must give these particular TSA agents some slack because they all have been working double-time. After their shift they spend another 8 hours working with the DHS learning to drive the new tanks they just bought. They also have to learn to fire the guns. Killing citizens needs some training.

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- SLAPTHELEFT
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:38pm
  If the TSA is the best they have to offer, then they better import some more somali muslims. Have you ever seen these fat, lazy, incompetent boobs?
  
  It was first minority and women come, first served. No education necessary, no diploma needed. Will you vote to join a union? Yes. you’re hired. Now get out there and make people safer by rubbing their testes and feeling under their skirts. Do not- we repeat DO NOT hassle anyone who looks to be from the middle east.Remember youre working for a govt agency so be as bad at your job as you can, be the most inefficient you can be, and by no means should you strive for excellence. We cant have the other govt slugs looking bad.
  
  Report this comment
pragmaticpatriot
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:00pm
When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality.

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- AUsername
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 6:28pm
  if there allowing small knives i am suspecting a future false flag attack.
  
  Report this comment
ACTIONNOTTALK
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:58am
The purpose of the TSA is NOT transportation security! It’s purpose is to acclimate millions of middle and upper class American Sheeple to gross invasions of privacy. “Gee, Marge, that warrantless search of our home by those nice men in black was not nearly as bad as a TSA body cavity search!”

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theglockguy007
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:52am
Incompetent morons.

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shorelineliz
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:48am
At Seattle/Tacoma airport all the TSA agents are black. They will hassle you if you are white to no degree. They get OFF on it. Power Trippers. Somebody needs to stop this agency.

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- SLAPTHELEFT
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:55am
  Theyre all a bunch of under educated union members. I wouldn’t trust them with a potato gun. While the bomb went through they were probably groping on some little disabled girl in a wheelchair. Thanks a lot TSA! You’re really making a difference in the safety of air flight.
  
  Was probably JZS or sendthemeteors. Get your hands off the little kids guys!
  
  Report this comment
JackiesGirl
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:48am
I think we should replace the TSA Agents with teachers. We’ve seen in the news recently how astute they have become at spotting weapons in the class room. I’m sure they would also be able to spot a fake bomb whether it be made of paper or pop tart.

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- SLAPTHELEFT
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:57am
  excellent idea Jackie!
  
  Report this comment
- ozchambers
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:04pm
  I don’t know if the teacher would do a better job. Pop Tarts come in packages of two, and she didnt recognize that the uneaten pastry was a high capacity magazine.
  
  Report this comment
- SLAPTHELEFT
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:33pm
  You had to ruin it.
  
  Report this comment
- Ben__Franklin
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 1:13pm
  True, she did not notice the potential of what shape the little heathen could have made with the second pop-tart. Nor did she notice that little Johnnie, the next classroom over, has been amassing tarts.
  
  These two pop-tarts should be used as a training tool for future Sleuths in the Teachers Union.
  
  Report this comment
13th Imam
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:47am
The Wilt Chamberlinesque FBI agent had a large C4 member so the overwhelmed TSA gaygent let him thru. Dreaming all the while. No prob, Bob

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- Zipit
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:13pm
  He’s supposedly done this at least a couple thousand times! Heck, before becoming FLOTUS, the Mooch routinely smuggled a large quantity of crack onto commercial flights under her dress!
  
  Report this comment
stumpygrim
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:44am
I”ll bet,if someone crapped a “bomb” in their pants, these idiot STILL wouldnt catch it, no matter how bad it smelled,f-n losers……..

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termyt
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:42am
Fake bombs aren’t a threat. Therefore, the system worked, right?

I cut the TSA agents a little slack. They are not trained to find these kinds of problems. They are trained to do the checks in the prescribed manner of randomness and political correctness prescribed by bureaucrats even less qualified than they are. They are set up to fail. They only know how to look, they do not know how to find.

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- jcldwl
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:47am
  This just proves the TSA is not there to keep the sheeple safe they are just there to harass the sheeple.
  
  Report this comment
- termyt
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:57am
  Yep. They can’t succeed, but they can abuse.
  
  Report this comment
- pragmaticpatriot
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 12:06pm
  Another empty shiny uniform. They are a danger to themselves and us
  
  Report this comment
USAFRetired
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:41am
And we are surprised by this incompetence. I think not.

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dublinthewagons
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:40am
QUESTION Were TSA agents ex-greyhound luggage handlers? Perhaps USPS upper management employees

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MCON29
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:40am
Muslim extremist want to blow up planes and kill civilians. Profile against those who appear to be muslim. Not a little girl who is handicapped, in a wheelchair on her way to recieve medical treatments. If the Undercover TSA agent appeared to be of Mid-eastern descent then it would have been a realistic undercover sting and perhaps he would have received more scrutiny if we used profiling.

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cassandra
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:39am
YA but they all got NEW UNIFORMS though !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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republic2011
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:38am
But I am sure they caught all the water bottles, sun tan lotion, tooth paste bottles. Go TSA!

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Cavallo
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:38am
If it had been an actual child trying to smuggle the bomb, or an old person with coloscopy bag, or a good looking occidental beauty contestant then they would have received extra screening and maybe have caught the device. That is, if they weren’t too busy molesting the child, abusing the old person, or sexually assaulting the girl.

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- momrules
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:46am
  I’ve heard that good humor must have some truth in it to be funny.
  
  Your comment was so truthful that I laughed out loud.
  
  Report this comment
dublinthewagons
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:37am
The IED Must have been cough drops, chewing gum or breath mints. No those aren’t allowed.
Sorry those are on the no “FLY”list.
Don’t forget to take knives, machettes and battle axes, as they can’t bring down a plane but box cutters can.

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GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:36am
Right. But the thing is, we all KNOW that the TSA is not only unconstitutional and tryannical in nature, but also incompetent at their supposed job.

So are we ever going to do something about it, or will b*tching on the internet be the only thing people will get up a head of steam to do?

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- copatriots
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:43am
  The masses will never do a damn thing. There aren’t enough who care about freedom and personal liberty anymore and the Ruling Elite know it.
  
  Report this comment
- Steelhead
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:44am
  GoJ- but the people here on the Blaze are paid professional bit ches
  
  Report this comment
- dublinthewagons
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:46am
  What’s wrong with the TSA? Released petophiles need a job too. Ghost your are just racist. Lol
  
  Report this comment
- GhostOfJefferson
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:50am
  Yeah, I know. I heard radio interviews yesterday with a herd of sheep bleating about how horrible it was that we may be able to bring our pen knives back on aircraft. I mean, sure, those unfree socialist Europeans can have pen knives and be trusted, but us small government capitalist free Americans just are too untrustworthy.
  
  If I weren’t shackled to the bulk of these fools it would almost be entertaining to watch, but since they have me chained to their idiocy, I really don’t like it at all.
  
  Report this comment
STREBOR
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:36am
Yeah, they let it through because they are stoked on their new EXPENSIVE uniforms……..it’s the buzz at every checkpoint!

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woodyee
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:36am
“The issue is that countries like Israel engage in profiling, which while successful, creates consternation among civil rights groups.”

Well, then the problem isn’t as much the TSA as it is the ‘civil rights’ groups – code name for left-wing agitators. The TSA may make mistakes, BUT, it is the ‘civil rights’ groups that prevent it from being effective.

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SamIamTwo
Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:35am
IEDs do have weird wiring so they should have caught it…need some Iraq and AFG vets on the front lines of TSA…they know what to look for…

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- Stoic one
  Posted on March 8, 2013 at 11:53am
  BUT… those folks are listed as possible terrorists. We cannot have that!
  
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