FBI: College Student who Breeched Airport Security Found

[Maddy McCall]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government on Friday ordered intensified security checks of the entire U.S. commercial air fleet after small plastic bags containing box cutters and other suspicious items were found on two Southwest Airlines (LUV) planes. The FBI announced later it had found the perpetrator.

A 20-year-old North Carolina man was being questioned in Baltimore - site of a major Southwest hub - by the FBI in connection with the incidents, according to a congressional official and a senior law enforcement official, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

The congressional official said the man, described as a college student, had informed the Transportation Security Administration that he planned to put packages on planes in an effort to expose gaps in aviation security.


more at http://apnews.myway.com/article/20031018/D7U88IKG0.html

[rocktivity]

1. I figured it was either an inside job or a heck of a frat boy prank

With psychics like me, who needs Miss Cleo?


rocknation

[sujan]

2. so you were wrong?

[PartyPooper]

3. This guy is such a brat!

What was he thinking, anyway?

[Robb]

7. He was thinking

Airport security measures suck, have gotten little to no better since 9/11, have cost more and increased delays, yet had no effect other than politicians get to pump it up in their speeches -- and no one in the media seems to care.

Good for him.

[janekat]

9. He should hailed as a hero

He's the only one with enough guts to point out that we are no safer now than we were before 911.

[truthisfreedom]

4. so is the point that they knew beforehand that he was going to do it, but

he managed to do it anyway, and all they could do was arrest him after the fact?

[tlcandie]

5. Interesting how fast they found him in lieu of these still MIAs

Osama
Sadaam
WMD
leaker

jAfter how long now? Did I miss anything?

[AWD]

6. You missed...

...the anthrax killer.

[amazona]

8. is there any merit to this story?

I have to take a New Orleans/San Diego flight in a few days. I have to say, I am not satisfied with this report. "This proves the need to better screen employees," says they. OK, so was this kid an employee of Southwest Airlines? They make a point of saying he's a college kid, age 20. Oh yeah? If he's age 20, he is not a juvenile -- why are they shielding his name if he even exists? Is this just another case of, the FBI can't solve a crime if Jack the Ripper himself signs his confession with a bloody knife so they just pull some name out of a hat and say, "THat's it, that's the guy"? Does anyone know more? I realize that reporters are hopeless when it comes to accuracy but this story doesn't hang together even a little bit!


we deserve to know if airport/airline employees are gaming the system to prove a point