Intruder given up by ‘mouse ears’

In a highly unusual breach of security last month at the air base that operates the Air Force One presidential aircraft, an apparently aimless intruder went undetected for several hours and walked on and off an airplane on the flight line before his quirky headgear gave him away.

He was wearing what an Air Force investigative report released Thursday described as “a bright red or pink cap that partially covered his ears and had distinctive balls on top that looked a little like mouse ears.”

An airman in the operations office at Joint Base Andrews, located in Maryland just outside Washington, saw the man on the flight line and became suspicious, partly because of the headgear, and called security. Officials said he never got close to Air Force One.

“To be frank, I’m just being honest, we had no idea we had an unauthorized civilian on the base. He could have roamed around for a lot longer had it not been for that particular airman that figured out he doesn’t quite fit,” said Sami Said, the Air Force inspector general who briefed reporters on his findings.

The Feb. 4 intrusion was reported the same day by the Air Force, which opened an internal investigation to determine how it happened and what could be done to minimize chances of a repeat. The probe found three main security failings, starting with “human error” by a gate security guard who allowed the man to drive onto the base even though he had no credentials that authorized his access. Hours later, the man walked undetected onto the flight line by slipping through a fence designed to restrict entry. And, finally, he walked onto and off a parked airplane without being challenged, even though he was not wearing a required badge authorizing access to the restricted area.