Another TSA Failure: Eleven People Boarded Flights at JFK Without Screening Yesterday

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has once again proven its ineptitude.

Yesterday, 11 people walked right on through a security checkpoint without being screened and right onto flights at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport.

Port Authority officials say it happened around 6 a.m., but they weren’t notified by TSA until 8 a.m.

The people walked through an unattended lane in Terminal 5 and boarded various flights.

So far, three of the people have been identified. They boarded a plane that is headed to California, and authorities said they would be screened properly upon landing (what’s the point of that?).

According to the Daily News, three of the unscreened passengers set off a metal detector, but didn’t even have to remove their shoes to get through security:

There was no one present to operate the magnetometer and the X-ray machine, or to do pat-downs and secondary screening, the sources said.

The three people who set off the metal detector all flew to California, a Port Authority official said. Records show there were four JetBlue flights from Terminal 5 scheduled for California between 7 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. — two to San Francisco and two to Los Angeles.

The TSA confirmed in a statement that “early reports indicate 3 passengers did not receive required secondary screening after alarming the walk through metal detector.” The agency said that all the travelers’ carry-on bags received the required screening, reports NBC.

As of this afternoon, the remaining 8 mystery passengers have still not been identified, according to NBC.

The TSA says it is investigating the incident.

Just last week, twelve TSA and airport employees were busted for their involvement in a massive cocaine trafficking operation that lasted nearly two decades.

And, earlier this month, the findings of a two-year House Homeland Security Committee investigation were released in a report titled America’s Airports: The Threat From Within. The purpose of that investigation was to review “insider threats and vulnerabilities” at airports, and it found that there are increasing concerns that insider threats to aviation security are on the rise.