It would seem anyone who flies in and out of New York”s John F. Kennedy Airport owes a very large debt to a man racing on personal watercraft.
On Friday night, Daniel Casillo, 31, and five friends were racing on Jet Ski personal watercraft in Jamaica Bay off the coast of Long Island. As Casillo passed by the airport, his watercraft ran out of gas, stranding him in the middle of the bay.
He saw the airport”s runway lights from the water and, seeking help, swam to them.
As Casillo came ashore, he allegedly was able to make it past JFK”s high-tech security system, which is full of motion sensor cameras, ground surveillance radar and smart fencing.
He allegedly climbed an 8-foot barbed-wire perimeter fence, walked undetected through the airport”s Perimeter Detection System, crossed two of the airport”s runways and entered Delta Airlines” terminal 3.
Did I mention that security system, which is considered sophisticated, cost more than $100 million? And did I also mention that Casillo allegedly made it through the system all while dripping wet and still wearing his bright yellow lifejacket?
Are you feeling some sort of shock and anger yet?
Needless to say, Casillo was arrested on charges of criminal trespassing. But some might say he did the airport, and possibly the rest of the airports in the U.S., a huge favor by inadvertently testing and breaching the security system.
Nicholas Casale is a New York Police Department veteran and former Metropolitan Transportation Association deputy security director for counterterrorism.
“I think he should be given dinner and a bottle of champagne for showing us our faults,” Casale said.
I have to agree. The security system was designed to prevent a terrorism strike on the airport or airplanes from the water.
Casillo proved that the expensive system wasn”t as accurate as its 95-percent minimum detection rate would indicate. If this is how it reacts, more tests are needed or a new system is required.
As the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11 nears, it would seem we should worry less about a foreign terrorist attack and more about a domestic attack.
The events surrounding the Aug. 5 Sikh temple shooting that occurred in Wisconsin read more like something we all should be concerned about.
Wade Michael Page, 40, allegedly used a 9 mm pistol to kill six people and wound four others, including a police officer, in an ambush shortly before a service was to begin at the temple. Page died after exchanging gunfire with another officer.
In the aftermath of the violent shooting, it was discovered that Page was an Army veteran with a history of performing in several bands associated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.
Since he died in the incident, it might never be certain that these factors played a role in the incident. But if a similar act was committed by Arab “terrorists,” race, religion and “freedom” would consume the discourse.
We seem so quick to forget the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the single-most destructive act of domestic terrorism on U.S. soil, where 168 people were killed and 680 injured when a Ryder truck filled with ammonium nitrate exploded.
Convicted plotters Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols met while in the U.S. Army and were alleged militia movement sympathizers, distrusting of the government and also allegedly sympathized with the Branch Davidians.
The Branch Davidians are a Protestant sect made famous by the 1993 Waco, Texas standoff that saw leader David Koresh and 82 others Branch Davidians killed.
While I was only 11 when the Oklahoma City bombing occurred, I never remember race, religion or freedom as parts of the discourse around the incident. It was two men deeply distrusting of the government who obviously didn”t care who they hurt to get their message out there.
The same could be said of Page. A man who gets into a gunfight with police is a man who doesn”t care what happens to himself or others.
And yet, when relatives of the victims gathered for the first service Sunday at the Sikh temple, they considered including Page as part of the memorial service as an act of forgiveness.
We have to stop looking at terrorism as a Muslim or Arab issue. Anyone can be a terrorist. The FBI and CIA must look harder at any potential attackers, be they left- or right-wing, foreign or domestic.
And if JFK”s security breach is any indicator, we still have much more work to do before we are truly “secure.”
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
