New York area airports aren’t nearly as safe enough as fliers would like.
Newark Liberty International Airport has had six security lapses in January and February, including a dead dog that was accidentally loaded onto a Los Angeles-bound passenger flight and a knife that made it past security.
Just this past Saturday, a man with three box cutters got through JFK security. They tumbled out of his carry-on on the Dominican Republic-bound flight, which was then evacuated.
The security breaches are so alarming to Sen. Frank Lautenberg that Thursday he asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate safety checks at Newark Liberty. Last month, Lautenberg also introduced a bill that would heighten airport security.
“Security’s already something of a joke,” said Fred Cate, head of Indiana University’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. “The federal government tests security all the time and never has trouble getting on with firearms.”
Cate added that security lapses must first be fixed before “spending more money on top of the money we’re already wasting.”
