Despite having been sarcastic in my previous post, when an incident such as this occurs there is a single "cookbook" initial response. This does not include actual threat assessment but dictates the measures to be taken and the sequence in which they are done. Only when all are complete and the "situation is contained" does anybody start to ask what actually is going on here.

I'm assuming some TSO uttered the b-word right at the start which would have triggered an appropriate level of response. 3 hours sounds about right to figure it all out. Yes, it's perhaps all a bit silly but I have no real criticism (except maybe the extent of the evacuation - the classic "we have found a bomb so we want you all to come and quickly walk past it" ).