Metro

Rep. King demands to know how ‘bomber’ got past Newark security

(
)

The undercover TSA agent who got past Newark Airport screeners with an improvised explosive device in his pants exposed a stunning lack of security that the agency had better fix before al Qaeda strikes again, Rep. Peter King warned yesterday.

The Long Island Republican wrote a scathing letter to Transportation Security Administration boss John Pistole demanding “immediate answers” about how the fed was able to get past a magnetometer and a secondary pat-down with the inert device, which he then could have brought onto a commercial flight.

The chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence called the Feb. 25 breach — which was reported yesterday exclusively by The Post — “yet another in a long line of security failures discovered at Newark.”

King demanded that Pistole conduct “an immediate top-to-bottom security review of all TSA operations at Newark and develop a corrective action plan to enhance training and combat complacency” in the troubled agency.

“I request a briefing on the security failures at Newark and the results of your security review as soon as possible,” he added.

King reminded Pistole about a fact many TSA screeners seem to have forgotten — that murderous terrorists are still hatching deadly schemes to kill as many Americans as they can.

“There is no question that al Qaeda and its affiliates, particularly al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, are plotting additional attacks in the US homeland and continue to focus on attacking US aviation.

“TSA must do more to ensure screeners receive continual training and screeners who fail multiple red team tests are handled appropriately,” King wrote.

The Post detailed how a TSA inspector who was part of a four-member red team — an internal affairs unit — staged a mock intrusion by going through the B1 checkpoint in Terminal B, home of American Airlines, JetBlue and Delta.

Posing as a passenger, the inspector was cleared — even though he had an improvised explosive device hidden in his pants.

Incredibly, the undercover was then pulled aside for a pat-down, and yet was permitted to proceed to his gate without the IED being discovered.

The TSA did not immediately respond to King’s letter.

An official for the Department of Homeland Security told The Post the civil servant at fault had been reassigned for “re-training.” The process lasts about a month and does not include a loss of pay.

TSA spokesman David Castelveter refused to discuss discipline.

He insisted “travelers are in no risk. This was a training exercise designed to improve the effectiveness of our screening.”

Additional reporting by Josh Margolin