Logan terminal evacuated after security breach

By Associated Press, 09/29/01

BOSTON -- A gate area at Logan was evacuated Saturday morning after two ticketed passengers entered without going through metal detectors.

The pair were allowed into the area through an emergency exit by a private security guard. They were detained by state police, questioned, then released, said Jose Juves, spokesman for Massachusetts Port Authority. He declined to give further details.

Passengers were allowed to re-enter the US Airways gate area after authorities swept it for bombs.

On Sept. 11, the two planes hijacked out of Boston slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Last week, despite heightened security, law enforcement officials carried a buck knife and a pocket full of bullets through Logan security checkpoints. According to a Boston Globe review of 10 years of FAA data, Logan had more real or fake weapons smuggled through security than any other airport.

Acting Gov. Jane Swift is calling in the National Guard to beef up security, and the Massachusetts Port Authority said it has increased the presence of uniformed officers at all security checkpoints.

The Federal Aviation Administration has reassigned the director of its security field office at Logan International Airport, where two of the hijacked planes in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks departed.

Mary Carol Turano was removed Friday from her post in charge of 15 field agents who test airport security. She was transferred to the FAA regional office in Burlington, where she will oversee hiring of security personnel in New England.

FAA spokesman Jim Peters refused to cite reasons for the transfer. "She has been reassigned," he said. "It's a personnel matter and we're not going to discuss it."

Turano did not return a telephone call seeking comment Saturday.

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2001

Answers

What I heard today about Turano is that she was exceptionally incompetent in her role.

'Fraid this is just SNAFU as far as Logan is concerned.

Besides, it's the weekend, and I'm nowhere near the place!

-- Anonymous, September 29, 2001