Originally Posted by studentff

Funny, true, but also a great "non-lethal" terrorists tactic for disrupting the economy. Because of the paranoia that leads to quick airport evacuations, envision this coordinated attack of "bad guys" (terrorists, disgruntled employees, bored teenagers, whatever):

1) Go to gate agent or screener and say "I wasn't screened," or just leave empty carry-on bag unattended in restroom.

2) Do this simultaneously in key hub airports (some combination of ORD, ATL, DFW, DEN, EWR, JFK, IAD, LAX would probably be enough) at peak times and repeat for several days.

The entire US air travel industry (or a targeted airline if so desired) would effectively be shut down by the evacuations. It would only take 1 person per airport (or terminal for places like LAX that aren't connected airside), and based on past track records for catching screening escapees, it's very unlikely they would be caught until it was way too late. TSA would be powerless to stop it as there own policies are what would be leveraged to create the situation (similar to how the "cooperate with hijackers" policy was leveraged on 9/11).

It is very easy for excessive paranoia focused on "security" to create these sorts of vulnerabilities. What's suprising is that none of them have been exploited yet.