Only in America: The TSA: Unplugged

A TSA agent screens hundreds of passengers with an unplugged metal detector — and more in our collection of strange revelations about the nation

The TSA: Unplugged
(Image credit: J. Emilio Flores/Corbis)

A terminal at New York's JFK Airport was evacuated, at least eight flights were delayed, and two planes were recalled from the runway — all after a TSA agent failed to notice that the metal detector he was operating wasn't even plugged in. The egregious error meant hundreds of passengers had glided through security without actually being checked, forcing the TSA to spend hours re-screening. "This is the failure of the most basic level of diligence," a law-enforcement official told the New York Post.

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