U.S. eyes fliers from 14 countries

WASHINGTON
— Airline passengers flying to the U.S. from 14 countries with
terrorism problems will face extra checkpoint screening at overseas
airports, the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday.

A TSA directive that took effect at midnight Eastern time
targets people flying from or through 10 “countries of interest” as
well as the four nations that are considered sponsors of terrorism.

The countries of interest are: Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen,
according to two administration officials briefed on the new rules.
They did not want to be indentified because they were not authorized to
discuss details publicly. The State Department lists four countries that sponsor terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

The new directive will be in place indefinitely and
replaces an emergency order the TSA imposed after a Nigerian passenger
tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight near Detroit on Dec. 25.
The order, which expired at midnight, required all passengers on
U.S.-bound flights to be patted down at overseas airports, restricted
carry-on bags and forced passengers to stay in their seats within an
hour of landing.

The TSA plans to maintain some extra security at all
overseas airports by increasing the use of pat-downs and body scanners
over the level at which they were used before Dec. 25, TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee said. Passengers will be selected for the tighter screening both at random and based on expanded intelligence information.

Lee called the new security measures “long-term and sustainable.”

“The 100 (percent) pat-down was not sustainable in the long-term,” said Steve Lott of the International Air Transport Association, an airline trade group. “Easing that requirement is a welcome change.”

Most of the 14 countries being targeted do not have direct flights to the United States. But passengers whose trips begin in those countries will face extra screening at airports where they board U.S.-bound flights.

The new system would have brought extra scrutiny on bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who flew from Nigeria to Amsterdam, where he boarded a flight to Detroit.

Monday, two top Homeland Security Department officials launch a week-long trip to seven countries to review airport-screening procedures. Deputy Homeland Secretary Jane Holl Lute and policy chief David Heyman meet with officials in Amsterdam Monday, then go to London, Brussels, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Nigeria and Brazil.

The meetings seek “to collectively bolster our tactics for defeating terrorists,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement.

—

(c) 2010, USA Today.

Visit USA Today on the Internet at http://www.usatoday.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.