Broken Camera Added Difficulty To The Search

UPDATE: According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Haisong Jiang, 28, was arrested on Friday evening charged with defiant trespass in connection with the January 4 breach of security and subsequent evacuation of EWR Terminal C. 

Surveillance footage released by Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) shows a TSA officer leaving his post in the exit lane after speaking with Jiang.  Moments later, Jiang slips under the barriers and into the arms of a woman reported to be his girlfriend.  The TSA agent has been placed on administrative leave.

Confusion during the incident was exacerbated by a the fact that one of the the surveillance video cameras that was supposed to be monitoring the exit turned out to be broken.  It had been waiting for repair for six days.

Senator Lautenberg released the footage to show the weaknesses in airport security, even after the Christmas Day bombing attempt.  In a news conference at the airport, he stated "That's like having a fire truck with a flat in it and nobody bothers looking at it until the alarm goes off."

Our original story from Jan 4 is below:

Exit Lane Offered Clear Path Into The Terminal

A man caused hours of delays at EWR by walking past security without being screened on Sunday evening and into the terminal servicing Continental Airlines.  After being unable to identify or trace the movements of the man, TSA ordered the entire terminal to be emptied for a security sweep.

The TSA was alerted after a man was seen walking into terminal C through an exit lane around 5:20pm, bypassing security screening.  It is unclear why there was no TSA presence at the exit to prevent the man from entering.

Screening was halted while the TSA reviewed surveillance footage of the incident.  Several hours later, all passengers were ordered to leave the terminal and get rescreened. 

TSA spokeswoman Anne Davis said no flights were allowed to leave from Terminal C Sunday evening.  Passengers already onboard aircraft were deplaned to be included in the rescreening.

As of 10pm, the rescreening still had not started and Continental was offering to reschedule reservations going through EWR on Sunday or Monday at no charge.

FMI: www.TSA.gov, www.Continental.com