Act Of 'Civil Disobedience'

Nathaniel Heatwole seems like a bright guy. He's a student at Guilford College in Greensboro (NC), one of the oldest colleges in America. It's affiliated with the Quaker Church. He's a junior taking a double major. He refused to register for the draft -- but sent the Selective Service a nice letter explaining why. "I wanted to let them hear the voice of dissent," he said, "just in case they were listening."

Now, the 20-year-old Heatwole could be in a whole lot of trouble for allegedly putting bags of contraband on board two Southwest Airlines flights. One bag was discovered in New Orleans (LA). The other was found at Hobby Airport in Houston (TX). Inside were boxcutters, suntan lotion bottles containing bleach and Play-Doh molded to resemble plastic explosives.

There were also notes inside the plastic bags. Federal authorities "reviewed the correspondence and determined this individual did not pose an imminent threat to national security," said one official, who didn't want to be named.

Heatwole was reportedly questioned by FBI agents on Friday after a database search turned his name up as a passenger on both aircraft.

As a result of the bags' discovery, the entire civil fleet -- more than 7,000 aircraft -- was searched. No other similar items were found. Heatwole reportedly warned the TSA in an email of what he was going to do as early as last August.

Al Aitken, a member of the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, thinks the TSA missed the boat on this one. He said if someone can send the government an e-mail about testing the security system "and then actually do it, then you know the real bad guys can get the appropriate explosive components onto the airplanes for a repeat of the Sept. 11 attacks."

Reporters tracked Heatwole down at his parents' house in Damascus (MD). His sister said he had no comment.

FMI: www.tsa.gov