Sensitive Super Bowl Anti-Terrorism Plans Are Left On Plane Prior To Game

A United States security official’s empty hands should cause red faces in Washington, D.C.

A CNN employee found sensitive anti-terrorism documents on a commercial airplane prior to Super Bowl LII, CNN’s Scott Glover and Drew Griffin reported Monday. The Department of Homeland Security plans, marked “For Official Use Only” and “important for national security,” critique the government’s potential response to a simulated biological-weapons attack in Minneapolis, Minn., on Super Bowl Sunday.

BioWatch, the DHS program that conducted the Super Bowl terror attack simulation, published the documents in December. Recipients were instructed to lock them up after business hours or shred them before discarding, but one person left them in the seat-back pocket of the airplane.

CNN declined to report on the discovered documents until after the Super Bowl after government officials argued doing so could weaken security for the game.