A passenger had access to secure areas at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago for three months. (Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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We now know more about Aditya Singh, the 36-year-old California man who was found last weekend, and was able to hide for three months in a secure area of O ‘International Airport. Hare in Chicago. Singh was charged with transgressing a crime philosophically to a confined space of an airport and theft of misconduct.
On Sunday, a Cook County prosecutor told the binding court that Singh was afraid of flying because of Covid-19. He had bypassed airport security for 12 weeks in part because he found an airport ID badge that allowed him access to areas less common for travelers. O’Hare airport operations manager had reported missing his badge a week after Singh flew into O’Hare.
In the past few days, we have learned that Singh holds a degree in economics from the University of London and a master’s degree from Oklahoma State University. He had been living in the Los Angeles area since 2019. A friend described him as a “calm soul” who would often volunteer to help the homeless. He was on his way to India as his visa was about to expire.
It is not yet clear how such a major loss of security occurred at one of the busiest airports in the country. As the Chicago Times the editorial board asked today, “how does someone stay at the airport unidentified for almost three months?”
The Chicago Department of Aviation, which oversees the city’s airports, did not respond to specific detailed questions from reporters but released a statement on airport safety, “which is maintained by a network coordinated and multi-faceted law enforcement. ” The department was investigating the incident, the CDA said, but “we were able to establish that this gentleman was not a security risk to the airport or the traveling public.”
If that’s true, O’Hare got extremely lucky, according to Jeff Price, a 30-year veteran of airport activity and deputy director of security for Denver International Airport. Now a professor in the Department of Aviation Science and Aerospace at Denver Metropolitan State University, Price literally wrote the book on aviation security.
Passengers getting lost at airports? It happens, Price said. Many people have likened this event to the plot of “The Terminal,” a Tom Hanks 2004 film based on an Iranian refugee who was found for 18 years at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport without a license -travel. “The big difference,” Price said, “is that O’Hare’s husband was on the security side.”
“It’s amazing that someone would have the space to evade airport security for three months,” Price said. “It wasn’t just that he was tolerant and they missed him to some extent. He must have avoided them until he had gone so far. “
Singh had reportedly found the airport’s operational manager ID badge, which allowed him access to restricted areas where it could have caused significant damage. “In all likelihood, a badge of that size would be allowed to go anywhere in the airport in the ramp area, except runways and taxis,” Price said.
It’s just a series of human mistakes that can have caused such a long-term breakdown. “The manager said his badge was missing, and that’s what he should have done,” Price said. The next thing that should happen was to turn off the badge from the computer system so that it could no longer open doors to secure areas.
It is unclear if this happened. “But even though we assume he did,” Price said, “the problem is that a badge still has an expiration date, and as long as the date has not passed. to achieve that, it is seen as visually valid. ”For anyone who only gave the brooch a brutal look, it would have turned out well.
Price speculated that if the brooch was worn off, Singh might have just worn it around the neck and followed authorized people through doors into the secure areas. “If someone doesn’t try to go through a door, you never know if the badge will work or not,” said Price. “It is possible that it is [at O’Hare airport] relied on the employee to retain possession of their badge more than they relied on the technology. ”
“That’s a big break at an airport to let someone follow you through a door. The protocol is that you still want to stop them and make them prove that their badge is working in that doorway, ”said Price. “But it’s a very humane process, and while there is plenty of technology on these doors, there is not much you can do if the staff are not paying attention and doing what they are supposed to do. . ”
In addition, security guards have the right to check people on the ramp “just to make sure their IDs are valid, that they are what they say they are, and that they are where they should be, ”said Price. “Both TSA and the airport side have set up random staff screening points. But they are not so difficult to avoid. ”
Finally, the Covid-19 protocols in place at O’Hare airport may be likely to affect security, Price said. “Identifying people who are out of place when there are masks on staff is a big challenge,” he said. “When one employee challenges another, you have the right to look at the badge. But that person is harder to identify if he is wearing a mask. You had to make it pull down. And until he puts down the mask, he is anonymous. ”
Masks also make it more difficult for security guards to identify people who are not working on photographs, and to identify suspicious behavior. “It is not uncommon for an airport to watch other staff standing around doing nothing, due to waiting times for incoming flights. Airports work at low tide and fast, ”he said. “However, this should definitely make people more aware of what is happening in and around the luggage areas. ”
“The problem with Covid is that everyone thinks that this is now our only threat,” Price said. “But there are still security issues.”
Now Mr. Singh is in the hot seat so is O’Hare. “I think that’s going to be a huge analysis for them after finding out exactly how this amazing thing happened,” Price said.
The Chicago Department of Aviation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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