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| U.S. to implement 'enhanced security measures' at overseas airports | |
| 2014-07-03 | |
The United States will increase security measures at overseas airports that have direct flights to the United States, the Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday. The department did not specify which airports or what countries would be affected, nor did it say what triggered the enhanced measures.
U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday the Obama administration was pushing for increased security precautions at European airports because of concerns that al Qaeda operatives in Syria and Yemen had teamed up to develop bombs that could be smuggled onto planes. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 Thanks B, going to visit Airbus sites. no matter how many times I have been crawling around inside and under it, that A 380 is one big honking machine.... makes the 747 look like a Piper Cub. |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2014-07-03 22:50 |
| #4 Save travels Skipper. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-07-03 21:28 |
| #3 Great, and here I am going to Europe Sunday, returning Saturday; probably get patted down 2x, and my (work) computer confiscated.... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2014-07-03 21:27 |
| #2 "The move underlined growing White House unease at the apparent failure of the UK and other European countries to stop young Muslims heading to Syria and Iraq to join Islamist groups." I don't understand why them going to |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-07-03 19:23 |
| #1 From today's Electronic Telegraph: UK terror alert: body searches at British airports Holidaymakers face invasive physical checks and lengthy delays at Britain's airports amid fears that jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria plan to target transatlantic flights with laptop explosives and 'body bombs' Holidaymakers face invasive physical checks and lengthy delays at Britain's airports amid fears that jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria plan to target transatlantic flights with laptop explosives and 'body bombs'. A tough new security regime was imposed on passengers after American intelligence suggested that al-Qaeda was plotting to use Western fanatics to bring down a US-bound plane. Travellers at Heathrow were subjected to 'vigorous' body searches and clothing and shoes were swabbed for traces of explosive. Passengers were ordered to switch on laptops, mobile phones and other electronic devices, and bags were taking twice as long to pass through scanners, according to reports. Passengers boarding American-bound planes were understood to have undergone a second round of checks before boarding their flights. A memo sent to all airports by the Department of Transport urged staff to enhance checks, with laptops subject to particular scrutiny. In Manchester, a passenger reported taking an hour to pass through security. Airport security was stepped up across the UK, the US and other countries amid fears that al-Qaeda bomb experts have successfully designed an explosive that can bypass current checks. It is feared that Western jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq, including hundreds of Britons, have been recruited as would-be suicide bombers. Intelligence suggests that al-Qaeda in Yemen, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and specifically its master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, have linked up with the Jabhat al-Nusra jihadists in Syria and passed on bomb-making skills. It was unclear whether the suspected new explosive could be deployed in an electronic item such as a laptop, soaked on clothing or surgically implanted in a bomber. All such techniques have been tried by Asiri in the past. Beefed-up security at foreign airports with direct flights to the US was requested by Jeh Johnson, the American secretary of homeland security. The move underlined growing White House unease at the apparent failure of the UK and other European countries to stop young Muslims heading to Syria and Iraq to join Islamist groups. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-07-03 18:50 |