JFK terminal evacuated because of unattended bag

An unattended piece of luggage described as "a suitcase with tape on it" sparked an evacuation of Kennedy Airport's main overseas terminal Tuesday, a Port Authority official said.

The suitcase was discovered about 8:15 a.m. outside the terminal and prompted airport security to evacuate the arrivals section of Terminal 4, and briefly the entire terminal, said Steve Coleman, a Port Authority spokesman. No flights were delayed, he said.

"Apparently, someone came back into the area and claimed the bag," Coleman said. "There was nothing harmful."

Even in a security-conscious world, it's hard to track just how often instances of unattended baggage cause an evacuation.

The Port Authority was unable to provide an accounting of such incidents at its facilities in the New York region, and the Queens district attorney's office said there was no way to know how many people, if any, were prosecuted for causing a security problem at Kennedy Airport.

Most unattended baggage investigations at transportation hubs turn out not to be a terrorist or criminal planting a bomb, said Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

"Things like this happen in any venue of transportation," Bloom said. "The vast majority of these cases turn out to be innocuous."

But law enforcement has to remain vigilant, Bloom said, because terrorist groups could use them as a test run for an attack.

At Kennedy Tuesday, Port Authority detectives found the bag's owner at 8:57 a.m. A parking garage next to the terminal was temporarily closed, and the Air Train skipped Terminal 4's stop.

Terminal 4 serves as the main international flights terminal.

A different type of security issue at airports is getting the attention of New Jersey lawmakers. Legislation in the New Jersey Legislature would toughen penalties for airport security breaches like the one in January at Newark Liberty Airport, which shut down Terminal C for six hours and delayed flights.

In that incident, a New Jersey graduate student slipped under a security rope to kiss his girlfriend goodbye. He pleaded guilty to defiant trespass and was fined $658.

If a bill in the New Jersey State Senate eventually becomes law, a person who improperly enters restricted airport space could be fined as much as $10,000 and face up to 18 months in prison.

In New York, conviction of criminal trespass carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Similar federal legislation as New Jersey's has been included in a Homeland Security appropriations bill.

With John Valenti