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Computer glitch spurs NASA facility lockdown

A NASA research center was locked down and employees hunkered down in their offices for an hour Friday because a misdirected phone call during a security test led them to believe there was a gunman on campus.
Image: A Cuyahoga County Sheriff's armored vehicle leaves the NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park, Ohio
A Cuyahoga County Sheriff's armored vehicle leaves the NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park, Ohio, on Friday. Mark Duncan / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

A NASA research center was locked down and employees hunkered down in their offices for an hour Friday because a misdirected phone call during a security test led them to believe there was a gunman on campus.

"There is not — nor has there been — a gunman or shooter here at NASA Glenn Research Center," Center Director Ramon Lugo III said Friday. "All the employees are safe."

A Glenn employee received an automated phone call at about 9:30 a.m. warning that there was a shooter inside the building, Lugo said. That employee has the same last name as a NASA worker at another space center that was conducting a test of its emergency-response system.

The employee told a supervisor, and the information went up the chain of command at Glenn, where officials were unaware of the other center's test and ordered a lockdown. It was called off about an hour later — after authorities had searched two buildings for a gunman — when officials realized the error.

Loudspeakers announced "all clear" and "the emergency is over" shortly before 11 a.m.

Lugo said NASA officials are still determining which space center was conducting the test, but a union official in Cleveland said it originated at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"This whole thing was a fiasco," said Virginia Cantwell, president of a union local representing more than 1,000 NASA Glenn employees. "People are very upset about this."

Cantwell said the false alarm was costly and left employees thinking there was a gunman stalking the grounds.

"I want to apologize to everybody for the inconvenience and the stress that resulted from the situation," Lugo said. "I have been assured by NASA headquarters that they're going to be conducting a review of this incident to assure that it doesn't occur in the future."

Personnel at Kennedy Space Center referred a call for comment to NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. A message seeking comment was left there after business hours Friday.

Lt. Don Michalosky of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's office said the phone message led to a story being spread among employees that there was a gunman at the sprawling center.

Employees were told to lock themselves in their offices and stay inside as the entire NASA campus was placed under a complete lockdown, Lugo said.

"I'm not happy that we had this situation," said Lugo, who acknowledged that the mistake was an embarrassment. "I've talked to some employees, and they were traumatized by the situation."

Lugo said officials initially believed the suspected gunman was in one building, then found out he was possibly in another building.

Michael Bilinovich, head of security at Glenn, said NASA is in a testing phase of the agency-wide notification system and that Glenn plans to test it later this month.

"The employee that got the message here has told us that they did not hear 'this is a test,'" Lugo said. "But we understand that at the other center, the employees were made aware that this was an exercise."

The emergency notification problem represented a second glitch Friday for NASA, which also delayed the space shuttle Discovery's final voyage, possibly until the end of the month, because of a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak discovered during fueling.

The NASA Glenn complex, next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, has more than 3,400 employees and contract workers and developed some key components of a rocket for NASA's now-canceled $100 billion return-to-the moon program. The center has weathered several years of staff cuts and is facing uncertainty over potential cuts in space programs.

The center is named after Ohio resident John Glenn, who in 1962 piloted the United States' first manned orbital mission.

Visitors are required to sign in, get a pass and be escorted on the grounds. Security was beefed up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Associated Press writers Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland and John Seewer in Toledo contributed to this report.