SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — An Associated Press investigation found that perimeter security fences or gates were breached five times at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in the past decade.
Last October, an intoxicated 22-year-old woman drove a car through a guarded gate, then to a terminal gate, near where planes with passengers were taxiing. The month before, an airport worker found a 26-year-old man walking on a taxiway. He had jumped a fence near a terminal.
Nationally, AP found there have been at least 268 perimeter security breaches at 31 major U.S. airports between January 2004 and January 2015. None was terrorism-related.
Airports say breaches are relatively rare. Security measures typically include fences, cameras and patrols, but there are gaps. Not all of the miles of fences are routinely patrolled or covered by video surveillance.