New Enhanced Air Security Checks Implemented from Today By US
After a review done, ordered by President Obama, US has announced that US-bound passengers will be profiled to decide which ones need to get extra screening.
That means that now there will not be mandatory enhanced screening of all passengers from 14 countries, which was the norm after the December failed attack on a flight.
From now on, travelers will be profiled to determine if they match intelligence on potential terrorist threats.
Air carriers have been started to being notified from Thursday and from Friday, April 2 the new protocol is being implemented.
The New York Times has quoted an official as saying, "This is not a system that can be called profiling in the traditional sense. It is intelligence-based,"
There will be increased use of explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, sniffer dogs and pat downs, passengers were informed.
Currently US has a 6,000-name "no fly" list of suspected terrorists, who are banned from flying to or within US territory.
Wall Street journal reports that in addition to this, now there will be cross-referenced information that may see passengers subject to further screening even if their names are not flagged. The screening will consider specifics like nationality, age, recently visited countries, and partial names according to WSJ report.
After the December failed attack on a flight by a 23 year old Nigerian passenger Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, new rules were set in place and extra screening was started for passengers from or traveling through Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
