Feds OK laptops on U.S. flights

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security officials said yesterday they will order stricter passenger screening and other new security measures for all flights entering the United States, but will not bar laptop computers in carry-on luggage as airlines and passenger groups had feared.

The new order will cover about 2,000 flights a day from 280 airports in 105 countries, a move that could make international flying even more onerous just as the busy summer travel season starts.

Security officials would not detail the new measures, but said passengers headed to the United States will face more intensive screening at airports, and probably more security dogs. They gave no date for when the new procedures will start.

If carriers don’t implement the measures effectively, Homeland Security still may ban laptops, ereaders and other electronic devices larger than cellphones from cargo holds as well as passenger cabins.

The decision follows intelligence, reportedly gathered from Islamic State in Syria by Israeli spy services, suggesting a lethal new threat from bombs that could be concealed in digital devices and that could evade detection by airport screening devices.

In March, U.S. and British authorities banned laptops in cabins on flights from eight Muslim-majority countries in North Africa and the Middle East, saying terrorists were seeking “innovative methods” to bring down commercial jetliners. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly told a security conference in Washington yesterday the new security measures will be “both seen and unseen” and will be phased in over time.