WASHINGTON (AP) – In an extremely unusual security breach at the air base that flies the Air Force One presidential plane, a seemingly aimless intruder went unnoticed for several hours and walked on a plane on the airline before his strange head coverings hit him given away.
He was wearing what an Air Force investigation report released Thursday described as ” a bright red or pink cap that partially covered his ears and had distinctive balls on top that looked a bit like mouse ears. ‘
A pilot in the operations office at Joint Base Andrews, located in Maryland just outside Washington, saw the man on the airline and became suspicious, in part because of the head covering, and called security. Officials said he never came near Air Force One.
‘To be honest, I’m honest, we had no idea we had an unauthorized citizen on the base. “He could have wandered around much longer, if it had not been for the pilot who realized he was not quite fit,” said Sami Said, the air force inspector general, who informed reporters.
The break-in on February 4 was reported the same day by the air force, which launched an internal investigation to determine how it happened and what could be done to reduce the chance of a recurrence. The investigation found three major security flaws, starting with ‘human flaws’ by a security guard from the gate that allowed the man to drive to the base, although he has no credentials authorizing his access. Hours later, the man walks unnoticed to the flight line by slipping through a fence designed to restrict access. And finally, he boarded a parked plane without being challenged, even though he did not carry the required badge that gave access to the restricted area.
On the day of the incident, officials said the intruder was handed over to local law enforcement because there was at least one outstanding warrant for his arrest. His name was not released. The Inspector General’s report states that he has an extensive arrest record, but further details have been obscured.
“Security forces never actually saw him cross from the open gate to the plane,” said Inspector General Said. Aside from his strange hat, the intruder’s clothes – dark trousers and jacket and black high-top sneakers – could make him look like a contractor, Said said, although he had to be challenged anyway, not least because he had no had visible badge. authorizes his presence.
“The good news is that the security forces, after being warned, caught him quickly – the moment he got off the plane,” he said.
Said said that the modified Boeing 747 that serves as Air Force One for presidential travel is never in danger and that it is kept behind more layers of protection at Andrews. “The area is extremely safe,” he said.
Unobstructed, the unarmed intruder climbs aboard a C-40, a transport jet used primarily by members of the cabinet, Congress and military combat commanders. He did no harm and in the Air Force’s investigation report, which was heavily censored by the air force before it was released on Thursday, he concludes that he has no plan to harm personnel or equipment of the air force. Its purpose could not be definitively determined.
“The evidence supports the conclusion that (empty) simply wandered around on the base and did not enter the base to meet anyone,” the report reads. “During interrogation, (white) said he was coming to the base because he wanted to see planes.”
After driving through the Virginia Gate at Andrews, the man drove to the base exchange, where footage from the cameras later showed he had spent about an hour before returning to his car. It was not possible to determine where he would be in the next four hours. Staff at the 89th Air Wing passenger terminal reminded him that he had entered the terminal, and he slipped unnoticed on the flight line through an 18-centimeter gap in a security fence that was not completely closed due to a ‘malfunction’.
He boarded the C-40 plane, which was open to facilitate a communications training session. Two air crew members were on board. The intruder steps to the back of the plane and leaves unchallenged after a few minutes. When he walked back to the security gate on the airline, he was stopped and arrested.
Said said Andrews had, to his knowledge, never had such a decline in safety.