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Lawmakers demanding answers over airport security breach exposed by Ch. 2 investigation

ATLANTA,None — Powerful lawmakers are demanding answers and action after Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant uncovered a major security breach at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Channel 2 Action News has confirmed the Transportation Safety Administration is now investigating the security breach involving an airline caterer.

Diamant spoke with lawmakers who told him they have questions they want the TSA to answer.

He spent nearly a week on the phone making sure lawmakers knew this breach occurred.

Aviation security experts call the security gap very serious and now lawmakers want to know whether that breach goes beyond Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Tuesday, Diamant spoke with two lawmakers who officially put Gate Gourmet and the TSA on notice.

"I can bring a gun in there if I want to, a bomb, anything. That's how easy it is," a whistle-blower told Diamant.

The whistle-blower showed Diamant video inside Gate Gourmet's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport facility where workers have direct access to planes.

The video showed employees piggybacking through security turnstiles, and inside the facility rows of unsealed catering carts ready to be loaded onto planes. Even though federal law says all catering supplies "must be sealed to ensure easy visual detection of tampering."

"They're not doing that at all," the whistle-blower said.

Diamant made sure Alabama congressman Mike Rogers, who chairs the House sub-committee on transportation security, saw our stories.

"They thing that I want your viewers to know is we take this very seriously," Rogers said.

Rogers told Diamant he has now dropped the hammer on the TSA.

"I've already called for the TSA administrator to come meet with me and talk with him about what does he know about this," Rogers said.

Rogers also called on the Office of the Inspector General to dig into Gate Gourmet's security procedures at airports across the country looking for patterns.

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"They will do it covertly. These people won't know that they're checking on them. So we intend to follow this through and find out who is doing their job and who's not," Rogers said.

Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson confirmed the TSA has already launched its own investigation after seeing Diamant's story.

"This investigative report shows a place we could be vulnerable, gives us direction as to what to do and someone who flies every week into Hartsfield, I'm very grateful for the scrutiny," Isakson said.

Both Rogers and Isakson told Diamant for them this issue is personal. They fly through Hartsfield all the time, so do their families and friends along with millions of other passengers who end up on planes catered by Gate Gourmet.