Intruder Caught at Joint Base Andrews

Intruder Caught at Joint Base Andrews

Unwanted person wandered unencumbered for hours before boarding military plane

A distracted gate guard allowed an unauthorized man to illegally enter Joint Base Andrews, where he roamed for about five hours. He also climbed aboard a C-40 Clipper, an aircraft frequently used by senior government leaders.

The incident occurred on Feb. 4, and an investigation found that the man gained access when the guard was distracted, and allowed the man to drive through the base entry. Three failures were identified by the Inspector General’s (IG) office.

  1. Once on base the many roamed “unencumbered” for more than five hours, visiting the facilities food court and passenger lounge.
  2. Upon leaving the lounge, the man wandered around outside, and found a partially open gate leaving access leading to the flight line.
  3. Once on the flight line, military staff failed to observe the man walking toward the aircraft, and staff on the flight line did not challenge his presence.

The C-40 had been left open for aircrew communications training, and crew on the aircraft failed to challenge the man when he boarded. The man was wearing dark pants, and a dark jacket, and carrying a backpack as though mistaken for a civilian contactor. However, the man didn’t fit in on the base because he was wearing a bright red-pink hat with balls on top, meant to resemble mouse ears. Once the man left the aircraft he was arrested by military police, but only when someone in the passenger terminal alerted security. He was then turned over to local police. The investigation also discovered that the man had consumed alcohol prior to entering the base.

The man could have roamed a lot longer had an airman not reported him, according to Lt. Gen. Sami Said of the Air Force OIG, who briefed reporters. The review also determined that Presidential aircraft were safe at all times.

The presidential 747 aircraft is stored at Joint Base Andrews, however, the IG noted that it was “safe at all times under a more robust security layer within a protected self-contained area manned by armed security personal.”

Featured

New Products

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.