DEVELOPING STORY: Suspicious Package at DCA

Columns

by Katie Pyzyk February 1, 2012 at 10:27 am 3,079 34 Comments

(Updated at 11:10 a.m.) The Arlington County Fire Department has cleared the scene at Reagan National Airport, where it had been assisting Airport Police with a suspicious package.

The bomb squad took x-rays of the package to determine its contents, but nothing dangerous was found.

The package turned up near the economy parking lot, and that lot closed down during the investigation. Most other airport roads and lots remained open, and no flights or terminal operations were affected. There were also no reported traffic backups due to the lot closure.

Implant

Real NOVANIANS abbreviate it to simply “Reagan”.
- LP
  
  Umm, no. Real DC folks simply call it “National” – what it was initially and still should be.
  - nunya
    
    +10
    - arlmama
      
      +10,000
      - DarkHeart
        
        +10^100
      - nunya
        
        +∞
      - Swag
        
        +∞²
  - PoMonkey
    
    Most people are not even from here, and probably moved here long after Reagan was added to the name.
    
    I don’t know what “real” is to you though.
    - nunya
      
      used to be called “Washington National Airport”.
  - sitruc
    
    The correct answer is what the fck is a NOVANIAN?
    
    National or maybe DCA. Older people tend to toss in Washington since it is Washington National Airport.
    - LP
      
      Hah, agree. I was trying to figure out “NOVANIAN” as well, just chalked it up to a transplant trying to sound witty.
  - Vik
    
    I’m a DC native and sometimes I call it National and sometimes I call it Reagan. They’re both easy to say and I don’t really make a conscious decision to say one or the other like some DC natives do.
  - autoexecbat
    
    I still say “MCI Center.” Does that count? Ha who am I kidding – I moved here in 2004.
  - PHD
    
    +1000
- reality check
  
  They should rename it “deficits don’t matter airport”
- charlie
  
  wrong. DCA or National.
  
  all other names are fake because that particular president would never have advocated for federal government forcing to name something.
Brian

Umm .. no roadway delays? MWAA themselves say there are delays:

From before your story was published on Twitter: “There are some roadway delays entering DCA due to temp closure of road to Econ lot. Garages, flights and terminals are operating normally.”
- ARLnow.com
  
  An Arlington County Fire Department spokesman is telling us there are no delays.
reality check

Wow, So you drive by an aparently there are dozens of cops from all sorts of agencies. Our tax payer dollars at work! Who would bomb a parking lot? Nobody, thats who. Obviously somebody accidently left something behind in their rush into the airport. But its an airport, and airports have airplanes, and airplanes caused 9/11, so this must be terrorism.All the bored first responders have to justify their budget, and thus rush to the scene.

All this needs is a few cops to keep people away and the bomb squad. Everything else is a waste until they have real reason to suspect this is a dangerous or malicious item.
- novastee
  
  The first WTC attack in 1993 was in the parking lot.
  - Mr.T
    
    speaking of parking lots:
    
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bicycle_Parking_Lot_Niigata.jpg
    
    i welcome car free comments.
- Brian
  
  OK, next time there is a possible bomb, I volunteer you to go over and investigate without any suit or backup.
  
  Did you miss when the Glasgow airport was bombed — on the access road? I was in the UK for that, scary as sh*t.
  - reality check
    
    First, I did say the bomb squad should respond
    Second, Glasgow was bombed at the terminal by a car bomb, not a small package sitting far from the terminal…completely different.
    Third, all I am saying is that there should be a proportional response. These days they call in the DHS and ATF to investigate kids with soda bottle “bombs”. It is ridiculous, and all about justifying one own job.
    - Sam
      
      “So you drive by an aparently there are dozens of cops from all sorts of agencies. ”
      
      This article says ACFD and DCA police were there. Who are all these other agencies that you say were apparently there? Name them.
      
      “Third, all I am saying is that there should be a proportional response. These days they call in the DHS and ATF to investigate kids with soda bottle “bombs”.”
      
      No they don’t. Stop being dramatic with all the hyperbole.
    - joe
      
      Umm only if you knew what you were talking about!!! If you know anything about DCA and what happened the bag was next to the general aviation terminal! And the only roadway that leads to the parking lots, cargo bay, etc. also within 50 ft of the GW parkway! There is a reason EOD is called for a bag, not just because it is a bag…
      
      so maybe you shouldn’t talk until you educate your self
- ArLater
  
  I for one rather they have too many units and too much caution than too little. But please if you have issue with it you go investigate yourself and save us all some money.
  - reality check
    
    yawn…I am arguing for an appropriate response. Calling in dozens of officers from a half dozen agencies for what is 99.99% likely to be a harmless package is not appropriate, especially when the threat to life can easily be contained by a few officers.
    - CourthouseChris
      
      Meh, emergency response is like an insurance policy: sure it seems like you are paying a lot, but you’ll be glad to have it when you need it.
      
      You can’t have an “appropriate response” as you’d like to see it when dealing with unknowns.
    - AllenB
      
      What qualifies you to define appropriate response to an incident like this?
WingMan

Um, the Airport is in Virginia…who cares about DC
arlcyclist

Not sure about the roadways but I was turned around on my bike on the MV Trail heading north at the southern tip of of the airport just north of Four Mile Run. The only option for traveling north was to double back and detour through Crystal City and pick the trail back up there.
- arlcyclisttoo
  
  they hadn’t closed the trail when I rode by a little after 9 am, but I felt lucky that they hadn’t. Cars and busses were definitely backed up on the airport road leading to the lot.
ernie

Larry Craig was seen heading into a men’s room?
- charlie
  
  they said suspicious, not old and dried up.

Subscribe to our mailing list