Reporter Caught in Mysterious Airport Lockdown -- Updated

Xeni Jardin, a technology reporter and co-editor of Boing Boing, found herself in the middle of an inexplicable, government ordered, 30-minute lockdown in Los Angeles International airport Wednesday.

I walked from the arrival gate towards baggage claim, and when I was about halfway there, all of a sudden about a dozen or more TSA personnel and private security staff appeared, shouting STOP WHERE YOU ARE. FREEZE. DO NOT MOVE. Not just at me, but all of the travelers who happened to be wandering through the hallway at that moment.

Some of the TSA guards then backed up against walls in the hallway, and sort of barked at anyone who tried to move a few feet away from their "spot," like towards chairs to sit down or whatever.

One TSA guard jogged ahead, back towards the arrival gates (United, this was Terminal 7). At first I assumed maybe it was some weird security drill? A few of us asked what was going on, and got terse answers, like, "Security review." WTF? 5 minutes passed. 10, 15, 20. The two teen Japanese tourists about ten feet behind me looked utterly dazed -- welcome to America, guys. I was really jetlagged and cranky, wanted to move a few feet and sit down, but the TSA lady nearest me kind of snapped at me to stop and stay frozen where I was when the order went out.

After 30 minutes, the TSA people said, okay, you may leave now. And everyone unfroze, and went and got their bags. No explanation.

Some of the Boing Boing commenters say that they've had similar experiences. I do not believe that, legally, Transportation Security Administration employees can enforce an order to make you halt when you aren't in a screening line. They don't have law enforcement powers*. That, of course, doesn't mean orders from people in U.S. government uniforms aren't intimidating.

That said, I've never heard of a situation like this and am baffled by what it was. Have any THREAT LEVEL readers had similar experiences or know what to make of the incident?

* UPDATE - An anonymous reader writes in to say that the Aviation and Transportation Security of 2001 allows the head of the TSA can authorize TSA employees to have law enforcement powers. See Section 114(q)(1). The reader notes too that there seems to be no way for citizens to know how to distinguish rent-a-screeners from TSA employees vested with law enforcement powers.

That said, I'm still highly skeptical of TSA screeners' powers to detain groups of individuals. That said, I am not a lawyer.

Moment of TSA surrealist zen @ LAX - Boing Boing

Photo: Simon Shek