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Airport Security: Gap at the Gate story
In this story, 5 Eyewitness News from Saint Paul, Minnesota shows how a homemade identication card gets through airport security at the Minneapolis St. Paul International airport. I also attached a link to watch the streaming video from www.kstptv5.com.
5 Eyewitness News: "Gap at the gate: No ID to fly" video
We break new ground in a 5 Eyewitness News investigation into airport security.
And we find the gap at the gate is open wider than ever.
Last May we exposed what some called serious security lapses by using a homemade identification card to board planes at several airports.
Now we go a step further and by doing so raise questions about the federal no fly list. We show you don't need any ID at all to get on an airplane.
On a Tuesday Morning at Minneapolis St. Paul International airport reporter John Mason is on a flight to New York City. With his Northwest boarding pass and an identification card we made on a computer he's through the security checkpoint in seconds. No questions asked. No additional screening. He flew to New York to show his ID to a woman who has a profound reason to care about the gaps we found in airport security.
Debra Burlingame said, "The point is to lull the American people into feeling that something is being done for their security. This is not something. This is a joke."
Burlingame's brother Chick, who was born in the Twin Cities, was the pilot of the American Airlines jet that terrorists crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11. Burlingame became a critic of security at airports, this year testifying before Congress about fake ID's. Raising the same question our investigation raises: 'Do airlines know who is on their planes?'
John asked Debra, "Do you think they do? She said, "No, I do not think they know. I know they don't know."
On his return trip from New York's JFK, he wasn't asked for ID at the Northwest ticket counter, even though he was changing flights. Security at JFK passed him through in seconds, just glancing at his homemade ID.
So we could fly in and out of the Twin Cities and JFK ... No questions asked. Yet, when he presented his home made ID to get into a meeting of the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Twin Cities Airport, he was turned away.
The reason? You need a Government issued I-D to get in. Imagine that.
It's been drilled into travelers that you need to present a picture ID to fly. There's a sign that says so at the Security Checkpoint.
But he got in line for a Northwest flight to Chicago with only a boarding pass. No ID at all. The screener never asked why. She passed me along to the TSA where he was wanded and patted down. With that he was through security.
But here's the twist. The boarding pass he presented wasn't his. Take a look. It was a boarding pass for his co worker, Jim O'Connell. For all Northwest and the TSA knew he could have been anyone. Anyone. Even someone on the government's No Fly List.
In its final report, The 9-11 Commission called out the importance of checking passenger identification at airport gates. Calling it the 'last opportunity to check whether they're terrorists.'
In May, aviation expert Kathleen Sweet was blunt when we told her we flew without showing government ID, let alone no ID at all.
Sweet said, "It defeats the no fly list, it defeats all the other precautions."
In our months of investigating the 'Gap at the Gate' we've reported that the airport screeners who check your ID are not employees of the TSA. They work for the airlines. In May, Northwest said it would work with Globe Security screeners and quote: ensure that only government issued IDs are accepted."
Northwest's statement this time was nearly the same: that Globe Security has committed to improve their acceptance of only government issued IDs.
What happens at the Gate is inconsistent at best. Some say it's dangerous.
Burlingame says, "I think the American people have to get mad about this. They have to speak up."
We asked the TSA if someone could compromise the 'No Fly List' by doing what we did. It's statement to us doesn't answer the question. A TSA spokesperson said the 'No Fly List' is one layer of security. The goal, according to the TSA, is to make sure everyone who gets on a plane is screened. Reporter John Mason was screened, but the airline had no idea who he was.
5 Eyewitness News: "Gap at the gate: No ID to fly" video
We break new ground in a 5 Eyewitness News investigation into airport security.
And we find the gap at the gate is open wider than ever.
Last May we exposed what some called serious security lapses by using a homemade identification card to board planes at several airports.
Now we go a step further and by doing so raise questions about the federal no fly list. We show you don't need any ID at all to get on an airplane.
On a Tuesday Morning at Minneapolis St. Paul International airport reporter John Mason is on a flight to New York City. With his Northwest boarding pass and an identification card we made on a computer he's through the security checkpoint in seconds. No questions asked. No additional screening. He flew to New York to show his ID to a woman who has a profound reason to care about the gaps we found in airport security.
Debra Burlingame said, "The point is to lull the American people into feeling that something is being done for their security. This is not something. This is a joke."
Burlingame's brother Chick, who was born in the Twin Cities, was the pilot of the American Airlines jet that terrorists crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11. Burlingame became a critic of security at airports, this year testifying before Congress about fake ID's. Raising the same question our investigation raises: 'Do airlines know who is on their planes?'
John asked Debra, "Do you think they do? She said, "No, I do not think they know. I know they don't know."
On his return trip from New York's JFK, he wasn't asked for ID at the Northwest ticket counter, even though he was changing flights. Security at JFK passed him through in seconds, just glancing at his homemade ID.
So we could fly in and out of the Twin Cities and JFK ... No questions asked. Yet, when he presented his home made ID to get into a meeting of the Metropolitan Airports Commission at the Twin Cities Airport, he was turned away.
The reason? You need a Government issued I-D to get in. Imagine that.
It's been drilled into travelers that you need to present a picture ID to fly. There's a sign that says so at the Security Checkpoint.
But he got in line for a Northwest flight to Chicago with only a boarding pass. No ID at all. The screener never asked why. She passed me along to the TSA where he was wanded and patted down. With that he was through security.
But here's the twist. The boarding pass he presented wasn't his. Take a look. It was a boarding pass for his co worker, Jim O'Connell. For all Northwest and the TSA knew he could have been anyone. Anyone. Even someone on the government's No Fly List.
In its final report, The 9-11 Commission called out the importance of checking passenger identification at airport gates. Calling it the 'last opportunity to check whether they're terrorists.'
In May, aviation expert Kathleen Sweet was blunt when we told her we flew without showing government ID, let alone no ID at all.
Sweet said, "It defeats the no fly list, it defeats all the other precautions."
In our months of investigating the 'Gap at the Gate' we've reported that the airport screeners who check your ID are not employees of the TSA. They work for the airlines. In May, Northwest said it would work with Globe Security screeners and quote: ensure that only government issued IDs are accepted."
Northwest's statement this time was nearly the same: that Globe Security has committed to improve their acceptance of only government issued IDs.
What happens at the Gate is inconsistent at best. Some say it's dangerous.
Burlingame says, "I think the American people have to get mad about this. They have to speak up."
We asked the TSA if someone could compromise the 'No Fly List' by doing what we did. It's statement to us doesn't answer the question. A TSA spokesperson said the 'No Fly List' is one layer of security. The goal, according to the TSA, is to make sure everyone who gets on a plane is screened. Reporter John Mason was screened, but the airline had no idea who he was.
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