Enhanced security could lift laptop ban
WASHINGTON, June 28, (Agencies): The Homeland Security Department is set to announce new security measures Wednesday for international flights bound to the United States, which could lead to a lifting of a ban on laptops and other electronics from passenger cabins from certain airports.
Industry and US officials briefed on the announcement said airlines flying directly to the United States will be required to implement the enhanced measures. If they don’t, their passengers may be barred from carrying laptops and other large electronics in passenger cabins.
Such a laptop ban has been in place at 10 airports in the Middle East and Africa since March amid concerns about an undisclosed threat described only as sophisticated and ongoing. The ban applies to nonstop flights to the United States from Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The roughly 50 affected flights are on foreign airlines.
The new policy will provide a roadmap for airlines and airports that could lead to those bans being lifted. Neither official provided a timeline for compliance. The
officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the changes publicly before the government announcement Wednesday afternoon.
The government had been considering expanding the laptop ban to include some European airports. The new measure sidetracks those plans, though they could resurface if airlines don’t comply with the new guidelines.
The changes comes after the Transportation Security Administration said this month that it is testing computedtomography, or CT, scanning at one
checkpoint at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
The technology is already used for screening checked luggage, but the cost and larger size of the CT scanners has held back their use for carry-on bags. TSA had expected to begin testing CT scanners for carry-on luggage by the end of 2016.
CT scanners create a 3-D image that can be rotated to give screeners a better look. Suspicious bags can be pulled aside and opened by screeners.
American Airlines, which is participating in the test, said the technology could let passengers leave laptops, liquids and aerosols in their carry-on bags, speeding up the trip through the airport.
The test comes as US officials scramble to deal with potential new threats, including reports that terrorists are developing bombs that can be disguised as laptop batteries.
The ban on laptops in the cabin is based on the belief that a bomb in the cargo hold would need to be bigger than one in the cabin, and capable of remote detonation. Checked luggage already goes through computedtomography screening while carry-on bags don’t.
The decision not to impose new restrictions on laptops is a boost to US airlines, which have worried that an expansion of the ban to Europe or other locations could cause significant logistical problems and deter some travel. Airlines that failed to satisfy new security requirements could still face future in-cabin electronics restrictions, sources said.
A European airline industry official told Reuters earlier this month that the United States had suggested enhancements including explosive trace detection
screening, increased vetting of airports’ staff and additional detection dogs. European and US officials have held talks for months on expanded security measures.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said last week that US authorities want to take the 10 airports off the restrictions list “by simply doing the kind of things that we’re talking about here in terms of raising aviation security.”
Homeland security officials plan to announce that those airports can get off the list if they meet the new security requirements.
Kelly, who is speaking in Washington on Wednesday afternoon, said he planned a “step by step” security enhancement plan that included short, medium-term and longer term improvements that would take at least a year to completely implement.
He said last week that airlines must take this issue seriously. “The threat is very real,” he said.
Airline officials told Reuters they are concerned about adding new enhanced security measures to all of the roughly 280 airports that have direct flights to the United States rather than focus them on airports where threats are highest.