Local officials are shaking their heads after a member of the Navy brought what appeared to be an improvised explosive device through a checkpoint at Albany International Airport.
Deputies were called to a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint on Thursday, Sept. 11, around 6:30 a.m., after a TSA bomb appraisal officer found a person with what appeared to be an IED. The officer looked at the item before notifying deputies and deemed it not to be an immediate threat.
The device ended up being not much more than a circuit board with wires, according police reports. There were also items next to “the device” appearing to be batteries on the X-ray, according to Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple.
“It is a bit of an odd occurrence,” Apple said. “It went through the X-ray and it looked like an IED. … I credit the TSA. They did a great job and followed protocol.”
Apple said the bag was pulled off the plane and one of the county sheriff’s explosive detecting dogs sniffed the baggage, but did not find anything unsafe.
The individual with the suspected item was traveling with two other people. All three were Navy personnel stationed at a Trident Training Facility in Silverdale, Wash. They had been training at the Knolls Atomic Facility in Ballston Spa and were boarding a flight back to their base.
Sheriff’s deputies spoke with their commanding officer, who confirmed their status and said the materials they had were consistent with their training. All three were released without charges.
“We were able to get a chief petty officer out in the State of Washington to say, ‘Yes, it is part of a project.’ We don’t know what kind of a project,” Apple said. “I would find it hard to believe that the military is shipping military intelligence and sensitive items through baggage claims.”
Apple said he would expect more from three military officer especially on a day of such “heightened awareness.”
“I think it was just a bit of an idiotic act,” Apple said.
He also questioned whether the men purposely brought the device to test security at the airport.
“This thing was almost set up to look like it was an IED, and they say it wasn’t,” Apple said, “but I’m almost curious if they were trying to test the security at the airport and make a big scene of it if it was able to get though. That is what it almost appeared to be.”
Albany County Executive Dan McCoy believed the three men would likely get reprimanded.
“I imagine they are probably getting screamed at right now from their commander,” McCoy said Thursday afternoon, Sept. 11.
Air traffic was not interrupted, and the airport was never locked down. The three men did miss their flight though, according to Apple.