Annie Jacobsen interviewed a spokeswoman for Raleigh-Durham Airport about the “terrorist threat” incident today (totally ignored by mainstream media so far): “Terrorist Threat” at Raleigh-Durham Airport.

Two airline passengers were arrested at Raleigh-Durham International Airport earlier tonight after causing what airport spokeswoman Colleen Fischvogt has just confirmed with me was a “serious incident on American Eagle Flight 518 from Jacksonville.” Local news station WRAL reports, “the disturbance was classified as a terrorist threat.”

In a telephone interview, Fischvogt also told me, “we received word from the pilot about the suspicious activity before the flight landed.” Fischvogt explained that when Flight 518 landed, it sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes before FBI “took jurisdiction,” boarded the plane and arrested two people. DHS and local law enforcement were also present on the tarmac but “FBI took over the sight and the situation,” Fischvogt said.

“Wait a minute,” I asked, “The passengers were stuck inside the plane with two bad guys for 45 minutes before law enforcement boarded the aircraft?” I wanted to make sure I heard Fischvogt correctly.

“Yes,” Fischvogt confirmed.

Consider the agencies present 24/7 at the federalized Raleigh-Durham International Airport: FBI, DHS, (TSA & Federal Air Marshal Service), Joint Terrorism Task Force, ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) and airport police. And yet it took seven law enforcement agencies some forty-five minutes to put a single officer on the plane to counter the threat and secure the plane?

My analysis is that the delay was caused by FBI and DHS fighting over who had jurisdiction; protocol over ‘acts of air piracy’ are a constant source of bickering between the two agencies and have been the subject of at least one DHS Inspector General’s Report. But what were the passengers doing, I asked Fischvogt?

“Using their cell phones to call people in the terminals and call the news media,” Fischvogt said.

I asked Fischvogt the ethnicity of the two passengers who were arrested: “one report says ‘of Middle Eastern descent’ but I personally can not confirm that,” she said.

UPDATE at 9/22/07 8:56:02 am:

FBI: Incident on Flight to RDU Posed No Threat.

Morrisville — The FBI early Saturday said a misunderstanding apparently sparked an incident on a flight from Florida that Raleigh-Durhuam International Airport officials initially classified as a possible terrorist incident.

FBI agents determined that a “misperception” caused the alert and said there was never any threat to passengers or crew members.

American Eagle Flight 4518 left from Jacksonville, Fla., at 7:10 p.m. for Raleigh. “Approximately 30 minutes prior to landing, a flight attendant observed suspicious activity by two of the passengers and reported this activity accordingly,” the FBI said in a statement. …

“Subsequent investigation, including interviews with those aboard the aircraft and a search of the airplane, has determined there was never any apparent threat or danger to the passengers or crew, and the observed activity was apparently misperceived,” agents added.