US Increases Screening for Airline Travelers From 14 Countries
An officer of Airport Security Forces searches a passenger at the international departure lounge of Benazir Bhutto Airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, 04 Jan 2010
The United States has increased security screenings for air travelers from 14 countries, in response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. jetliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday that every individual flying into the U.S. "from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest" will be subject to "enhanced screening."
The U.S. State Department lists Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. Also subject to more stringent screening are passengers from Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.
Extra screening measures may include body pat-downs, swabbing of luggage to detect explosives, and body scans.
The heightened security comes after a 23-year-old Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly tried to detonate explosives on a Northwest Airlines plane December 25 as it approached Detroit.
TSA also ordered an overall increase in the use of "enhanced screening technologies," along with "threat-based" and random screening, for U.S.-bound airline passengers.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday that British airports will soon begin using full-body scanners to screen passengers. He told British television that such screening will be extended to all passengers, and that even those only transiting through Britain will have their hand luggage screened.
Nigeria and the Netherlands ordered the screening last week.
U.S. President Barack Obama＇s top counter-terrorism adviser said Sunday that intelligence agencies did not miss a "smoking gun" (indisputable evidence) that could have prevented the failed Christmas Day bombing.
In television interviews, John Brennan, who is leading the White House review of the incident, said there were errors in the sharing of intelligence about the suspect. But he said there is no evidence that U.S. agencies were reluctant to share the information.
President Obama has ordered an interagency review on the incident, and summoned administration security officials to meet with him Tuesday at the White House.
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