US eyes laptop air ban
For all int’l flights
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Sunday that he is considering banning laptops from the cabins of all flights into and out of the United States — because terrorists are “obsessed” with bringing down a jetliner.
“There’s a real threat,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “Numerous threats against aviation, that’s really the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it’s a US carrier, particularly if it’s full of mostly US folks, people. It’s real.”
On March 21, the US began banning passengers from carrying laptops onto flights coming from 10 airports in eight countries, all in the Mideast or North Africa.
Asked if he would extend that ban to all international flights, Kelly said, “I might.”
“We are going to raise the bar for, generally speaking, aviation security much higher than it is now,” he said. “There’s new technologies not too far down the road that we will rely on. But it is a real sophisticated threat, and I will reserve that decision until we see where it’s going.”
Additionally, Kelly said he “likely will” extend tougher screening of carry-on luggage nationwide.
The Transportation Security Administration has been testing procedures at 10 airports requiring passengers to remove more items from carry-on bags for screening.
Travelers looking to avoid luggage fees have been packing more into their carry-on bags, making it more difficult for TSA agents to see the contents with their equipment, Kelly explained.
“The more you stuff in there, the less the TSA professionals that are looking at what’s in those bags through the monitors, they can’t tell what’s in the bags anymore,” Kelly said.
He did not say when he expected to make a decision on the security measures.
Kelly also blasted recent intelligence leaks to the media as “borderline, if not over the line of treason.”
He was referring to UK leaders’ anger over leaks that resulted in US media outlets publishing sensitive details of the probe into last Monday’s deadly terrorist bombing at Manchester Arena.
“If it camee from the United States, it’s totally unacceptable,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I don’t know why people do these kind of things, but it’s borderline, if not over the line of treason.”