WASHINGTON (AP) – During a highly unusual security breach last month at the air base operating the Air Force One presidential aircraft, a seemingly aimless intruder went unnoticed for several hours, walking in and out of an aircraft on the flight line before his idiosyncratic headgear gave him away.
He wore what an Air Force investigative report published Thursday described as “a bright red or pink cap that partially covered his ears and had conspicuous balls on them that looked a bit like mouse ears.”
A pilot in the operating office at Joint Base Andrews, located in Maryland just outside Washington, saw the man on the flight line and became suspicious, partly because of the headgear, and called security. Officials said he never got close to Air Force One.
“To be fair, I’m just being honest, we had no idea there was an unauthorized citizen on the base. He could have been wandering around much longer if that particular pilot hadn’t found out that he wasn’t quite fit, ”said Sami Said, the Air Force Inspector General who informed reporters of his findings.
The February 4 break-in was reported the same day by the Air Force, which opened an internal investigation to determine how it happened and what could be done to minimize the likelihood of recurrence. The probe detected three major security flaws, starting with a “human error” by a gate guard who allowed the man to drive onto the base, even though he had no credentials to grant him access. Hours later, the man walked unnoticed up the flight line by slipping through a gate designed to restrict access. And finally, he walked in and out of a parked plane without being challenged, even though he didn’t wear a mandatory badge granting access to the restricted area.
On the day of the incident, officials said the intruder had been turned over to local police because there was at least one warrant for his arrest. His name has not been disclosed. The Inspector General’s report stated that he had “an extensive arrest report,” but further details were obscured.
“Security forces never actually saw him move from the open gate to the plane,” said Said, the inspector general. Aside from his odd hat, the intruder’s clothes – dark pants and jacket and black high-top sneakers – could have made him look like a contractor, Said said, though he should have been challenged anyway, not least because he no visible badge did authorize its presence.
“The good news is that once he was warned, the security forces arrested him pretty quickly – the moment he got off the plane,” he said.
Said said the modified Boeing 747 serving as Air Force One for presidential travel was never endangered and is being held behind more layers of protection at Andrews. “That area is extremely safe,” he said.
Unobstructed, the unarmed intruder boarded a C-40, a transport aircraft primarily used by cabinet members, congressional and military fighters. He did no harm, and the Air Force’s investigative report, which was heavily censored by the Air Force before it was released on Thursday, concluded that he had no plan to harm the Air Force personnel or equipment. His purpose could not be definitively determined.
“The evidence supports the conclusion that (blank) just wandered around the base and didn’t enter the base to meet anyone,” the report said. “During the interrogation, (blank) said he came 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 surveillance cameras later revealed that he spent about an hour before returning to his car. His whereabouts for the next four hours could not be determined. The 89th Air Wing passenger terminal personnel recalled entering the terminal and then slipped unnoticed up the flight line through an 18-inch opening in a gate of a security gate that was not fully closed due to a “malfunction.”
He walked onto the C-40 plane, which was open for communications training. Two aircrew were on board. The intruder walked to the back of the plane and took off after a few minutes unaffected. When he walked back to the security gate on the flight line, he was stopped and arrested.
Said said Andrews, to his knowledge, had never experienced such a delay in security.