US call for increased air security unheeded
Source: Agencies |
January 5, 2010, Tuesday
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AIRLINE passengers bound for the United States faced a hodgepodge of security measures across Europe yesterday, and airports did not appear to be following a US request for increased screening of passengers from 14 countries.
US officials in Washington said the new security measures would be implemented yesterday but there were few visible changes on the ground in Europe, which has thousands of passengers on hundreds of daily flights to the US.
Large hubs such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt alone account for 20-30 trans-Atlantic flights a day each - but there was no uniform consensus on necessary security measures.
In Britain, a major international transport hub, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation said he was still trying to decipher the practical implications of the new US rules. He refused to give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject.
US authorities said as of yesterday, anyone traveling from or through nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism - as well as "other countries of interest" - will be required to go through enhanced screening. The Transportation Security Administration said those techniques would include full-body pat-downs, carryon bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology.
The US State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers are supposed to face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Nationals from those countries already require a visa to enter the US.
The new measures followed the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab is now at a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, and faces a court hearing on Friday.
Germany increased security at all airports following the failed Christmas Day attack, but authorities said yesterday no further measures have been taken since. In Switzerland, authorities were studying the new US security measures, but so far the old controls were still in place.
In Spain, US-bound passengers from countries on the new watch list were not being singled out for body frisks, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There is no European-wide consensus yet on the need for full body scanners - which are being sought in Britain by Prime Minister Gordon Brown - but European Union officials said the issue will be raised at a special security meeting soon.
US officials in Washington said the new security measures would be implemented yesterday but there were few visible changes on the ground in Europe, which has thousands of passengers on hundreds of daily flights to the US.
Large hubs such as London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt alone account for 20-30 trans-Atlantic flights a day each - but there was no uniform consensus on necessary security measures.
In Britain, a major international transport hub, a spokesman for the Department of Transportation said he was still trying to decipher the practical implications of the new US rules. He refused to give his name due to the sensitivity of the subject.
US authorities said as of yesterday, anyone traveling from or through nations regarded as state sponsors of terrorism - as well as "other countries of interest" - will be required to go through enhanced screening. The Transportation Security Administration said those techniques would include full-body pat-downs, carryon bag searches, full-body scanning and explosive detection technology.
The US State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. The other countries whose passengers are supposed to face enhanced screening include Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Nationals from those countries already require a visa to enter the US.
The new measures followed the arrest of a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who allegedly tried to set off an explosive device on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab is now at a federal prison in Milan, Michigan, and faces a court hearing on Friday.
Germany increased security at all airports following the failed Christmas Day attack, but authorities said yesterday no further measures have been taken since. In Switzerland, authorities were studying the new US security measures, but so far the old controls were still in place.
In Spain, US-bound passengers from countries on the new watch list were not being singled out for body frisks, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There is no European-wide consensus yet on the need for full body scanners - which are being sought in Britain by Prime Minister Gordon Brown - but European Union officials said the issue will be raised at a special security meeting soon.
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