JFK security is breached by man who swam ashore

[bemildred]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — In an era when airline passengers can't get past a checkpoint with a bottle of shampoo, security experts were shocked Monday by the case of a man who swam ashore, scaled a fence and walked dripping wet into Kennedy Airport despite a $100 million system of surveillance cameras and motion detectors.

"Thank God it wasn't a terrorist, but we have to look at it as if we had another attack," said Isaac Yeffet, former chief of security for Israeli airline El Al. "That's the only way we'll improve the system."

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees JFK, quickly added police patrols to the airport perimeter and said it is investigating the security breach.

Authorities said the trouble began Friday evening when 31-year-old Daniel Casillo's jet ski ran out of fuel in Jamaica Bay. Casillo swam toward the bright lights of Kennedy's runway 4L, which juts out into the bay, then climbed an 8-foot fence that is part of the airport's state-of-the-art Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, authorities said.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/business/article/JFK-security-is-breached-by-man-who-swam-ashore-3783708.php

[Bucky]

1. Whoa, just like Darryl Hannah did with Statue of Liberty security back in the 80s

I'm starting to rethink my opposition to allowing cops to profile merpeople.

[DeSwiss]

7. First they came for the Mer people.....

...but I said nothing because I wasn't Mer......

- You know the rest......

[valerief]

2. I have that happen in a novel I wrote only it was off a ship. nt

[liberal N proud]

3. Did he swim back from the Olympics?

[Pilotguy]

4. He walked across two runways!

WOW!

[bemildred]

6. Yes, I am impressed.

And nobody noticed him.

[Incitatus]

20. Just imagine the damage he could have done. OMG!

9/11 all over again.

[sulphurdunn]

5. When I hear phrases

like "private security" (for profit, usually non-union security) I know that the purpose is money and not security. Ratheon made big bucks on this deal and so did the private security firm tasked with monitoring and responding to the equipment. The only people involved with public security should be public servants, not private contractors.

[Blue_Tires]

22. +1

this security "system" was just for the purpose of enriching a politically connected contractor...No one like the stories when the facade gets exposed and billions of taxpayer $$$$ went to something useless...

[DeSwiss]

8. And yet Paul Ryan has elder-security.....

...up the wazoo.

- K&R

&

[spooky3]

12. Yep. At the Boston airport, I didn't remove a thin belt that had NEVER set off security before but

it did last week while I stood (seemingly forever) in the scanner. I am not in what you would call a scary demographic category. But rather than asking me to remove the belt/check pockets/etc. and try again, they had me step out, THEN asked me to remove the belt, THEN did a pat down UNDER my waistband. Of course I am smart enough just to be compliant, but it truly was ridiculous.

I'm sure Mr. Ryan considers himself much safer because of each airport's deciding what it considers threatening and checking stuff with extremely low probabilities of detecting problems rather than REAL holes in security.

[1monster]

9. This man was charged because the airport's security system did not work, not because

he trespassed. Had it worked correctly, he would have had help from the security agents who responded to his touching the fence.

What the heck was he supposed to do? Walk the whole way around the airport (if that is even possible) to get help?

[ManiacJoe]

16. Yes, that is what he was supposed to do.

>What the heck was he supposed to do? Walk the whole way
> around the airport (if that is even possible) to get help?

Those fences are for his safety and everyone elses.

[1monster]

17. No. The security system was supposed to work. Had it, he would not have need to climb the

fence or walk around. Had they worked, secuity could have called for a police officer to send a car (or even sent one themselves -- which is what should have happened in this case.

Those fences are worthless if they can't keep people out. In this case it was someone in need. However, it could have been a much worse case scenario. They should thank this man for having shown them the weakness in their security.

[blackspade]

19. Exactly!

He exposed the security theater for what it was.

[JoeyT]

10. If they were concerned with security, they'd be

giving him a medal instead of charging him. After all, they now know there was a hole a terrorist could have gotten through without anyone getting hurt.

Of course they're not concerned with security, they're concerned with using the illusion of security to grab assloads of money, and people wandering through high end systems without actually trying to sneak in kind of ruptures that.

[Scuba]

21. Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner.

[Athena66]

11. All I have to say is,

They really, really don't want me on his jury, because I would vote "not guilty" in a heartbeat. Indeed, they should give this guy a medal for showing how stupid they are.

[Moran1D4]

13. Airports are Massive

Airports are massive covering areas of 5 t0 10 miles. Intruders can jump over fences from any point.

[spooky3]

14. Well, if that's true, and that jumpers would escape any detection routinely,

then TSA is wasting a lot of money chasing stupid stuff and should re-prioritize its activities.

[Athena66]

15. Exactly

n/t

[SheilaT]

18. Oh, heck. This is nothing new.

I worked at National Airport in Washington, DC during the 70's. It's right on the Potomac river. One day a man showed up in front of my counter in a scuba suit, dripping water.

I think he was trying to meet an arriving flight, but it was a very long time ago, and I was so thunderstruck by the dripping wet scuba suit that I've forgotten everything else.

[Javaman]

23. Just goes to show that the TSA and HLS is nothing more than

political theater. A type of theatrics that someone is making bank.