The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has revealed that security cameras positioned at a terminal's exit were not recording on Sunday when a man breached security at Newark Liberty International Airport, according to CNN.com [1].

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Ann Davis said TSA-funded and Port Authority-installed and -operated cameras were running but not recording at the time of the security breach on Sunday evening, which led officials to shut Terminal C for hours and rescreen thousands of passengers.

She said TSA investigators instead scrutinized security tapes recorded by Continental Airlines' cameras in an unsuccessful attempt to identify the individual.

The unidentified man slipped through security and into Terminal C where the terminal's exits meet the public waiting area.The TSA told CNN.com that after conferring with the Port Authority, the agency volunteered to check the cameras each day to ensure they are recording.

This breach comes little more than a week after a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in U.S. airspace on December 25. That attempt has led to "enhanced screening" for all travelers flying from or through 14 countries [2] either known to be state sponsors of terrorism or with significant terrorist activity.

CNN.com notes that Liberty International is where some of the hijackers departed from on September 11, 2001. They boarded United Airlines Flight 93, where according to the 9-11 Commission Report [3], the passengers revolted against the al Qaeda terrorists, crashing the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. The hijackers likely target: the Capitol or the White House.

♦ Photo by graciepoo/Flickr [4]

Thumbnail: