New airport rules scrap mandatory screening
Source: Agencies |
April 3, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE United States will implement new airline security measures this month to replace mandatory screening of air travelers from 14 countries, a step that had angered some allies when it was imposed after a failed bombing on Christmas Day.
The new measures, to be announced later yesterday, are expected to significantly reduce the number of passengers pulled aside for additional screening and will not be based on nationality or passport, but on characteristics pulled together by intelligence agencies, a senior administration official said.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the new system would be "tailored" and described the measures being scrapped as a "blunt-force instrument."
The new measures would require a traveler to undergo additional screening if they match information about terrorism suspects gathered by intelligence agencies, such as a physical description, partial name or travel pattern, the official said.
The names of terrorism suspects identified by the US government will continue to be included on security watch lists and no-fly lists as a part of airline security.
The new policy affects all travelers coming into the US from abroad. The US government implemented tighter airline security measures after the attempted bombing of a December 25 flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in which a Nigerian man tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear.
Questions have been raised about why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was charged with trying to blow up the airliner, was not stopped before he got on the flight.
The subsequent measures required that passengers traveling from Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen be subjected to especially rigorous pre-flight screening.
The new measures, to be announced later yesterday, are expected to significantly reduce the number of passengers pulled aside for additional screening and will not be based on nationality or passport, but on characteristics pulled together by intelligence agencies, a senior administration official said.
The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the new system would be "tailored" and described the measures being scrapped as a "blunt-force instrument."
The new measures would require a traveler to undergo additional screening if they match information about terrorism suspects gathered by intelligence agencies, such as a physical description, partial name or travel pattern, the official said.
The names of terrorism suspects identified by the US government will continue to be included on security watch lists and no-fly lists as a part of airline security.
The new policy affects all travelers coming into the US from abroad. The US government implemented tighter airline security measures after the attempted bombing of a December 25 flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in which a Nigerian man tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear.
Questions have been raised about why Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was charged with trying to blow up the airliner, was not stopped before he got on the flight.
The subsequent measures required that passengers traveling from Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen be subjected to especially rigorous pre-flight screening.
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