Air Travelers to U.s. Face Tighter Screening Below New Rules
The announcement yesterday followed the failed Dec. 25 attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight and the closing of the U.S. and British embassies in Yemen because of warnings of a possible strike by al-Qaeda.
“Every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening,” the statement from the Transportation Security Administration said.
The rules follow other stepped-up security measures stemming from the attack, such as limiting carry-on luggage and allowing pilots to require passengers on international routes to the U.S. to stay in their seats for the last hour of flight.
“The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S.-bound international flights,” the TSA statement said.
Earlier yesterday, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said British airports will introduce full-body scanners to prevent terrorists smuggling explosives onto airplanes. On Dec. 30, the Netherlands said it will start using 15 full-body scanners for all U.S.-bound flights.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is charged in the U.S. with smuggling explosives onto the Northwest flight from Amsterdams Schiphol Airport and trying to blow up the plane as it prepared to land in Detroit on Christmas Day. Passengers and crew subdued him when he tried to ignite the explosives.
Four countries — Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria — are listed as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. State Department. The man charged in the Northwest bombing attempt was apparently trained and equipped with explosives by al-Qaeda in Yemen, President Barack Obama said Jan. 2.