Senators furious as video reveals airport security breach

US senators criticised authorities regarding an airport security breach at the weekend as a video of the incident emerged showing a guard standing nearby as a man followed a woman into the terminal.

The video of Newark Liberty International Airport was seen by New Jersey senator Frank Lautenberg and members of his staff after Mr Lautenberg requested it from the Transportation Security Administration.

He said he planned to release the video today.

Sunday evening's incident at the airport outside New York City caused massive delays after TSA officials closed Terminal C for six hours.

Staff who saw the video said a TSA security officer standing nearby did not see the man stepping under a rope barrier and into the terminal with the woman without passing through security.

The footage was captured by cameras operated by Continental Airlines after cameras used by the TSA were found to be not working properly.

The security officer has been placed on administrative leave.

At a news conference at the airport last night, Mr Lautenberg, fellow Democratic senator Robert Menendez and US Rep Donald Payne called for upgrades to surveillance camera systems and better training and accountability for security officers.

The trio used terms such as "major negligence" and "management failure" to describe the incident.

The breach exposed flaws at three levels: the exit, where the security officer failed to see the man; the subsequent discovery that security cameras were not working properly and had not been storing images; and a resulting delay of about an hour before law enforcement authorities were notified, after TSA officials viewed images recorded on cameras owned by Continental Airlines.

The TSA said it has "modified the staffing and configuration at the exit lanes in Terminal C", though spokeswoman Ann Davis did not give specifics.

The unidentified man has not been located.

Ms Davis said TSA officers had been checking the surveillance camera system regularly since Sunday. According to published reports, no recordings had been made for several days prior to the incident.

She said on Tuesday that the TSA was not aware of the problem and did not notify the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which maintains the cameras, because the recorded images were only reviewed when an incident had occurred or was suspected.

Mr Lautenberg likened the scenario to one in which a fire brigade did not notice one of its trucks had a flat tyre until it had to respond to a call.

Mr Menendez called it "unfathomable" that the recording system was not being checked routinely and suggested a system that would give a warning when it stopped recording.

"There clearly are innovations that exist that will set off an alarm if your system shuts off," he said. "You shouldn't depend on whether or not there's a security guard checking every hour on the hour - what if in the interim there was a failure of the system?"

In a statement, the TSA said it was working with the port authority to ensure the camera system works consistently.

Mr Lautenberg has called for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing to review the incident, which left thousands of travellers stranded, some overnight, and caused ripple delays around the world.