Air travelers with smartphones or other electronic devices must be able to turn them on to take them aboard under new security measures, US authorities said on Sunday.
US-bound travelers from Europe and the Middle East have faced tighter airport security in recent days over fears that militants linked to terrorist groups are developing new explosives that could be slipped onto planes undetected.
The checks focused on electronic items such as laptops and smartphones, amid fears that extremists could use them as their latest tactic in a long campaign of attacks involving jets.
“During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cellphones,” the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in a statement, adding that all electronic devices are screened by security officers.
“Powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft. The traveler may also undergo additional screening,” it added.
The agency said that it could “adjust” security measures further to provide maximum security to travelers.
A TSA official declined to confirm further details about the enhanced screenings in the US and on US-bound flights.
French and British authorities have urged passengers to allow extra time to get past the additional, unspecified measures, which were believed to focus on footwear and electronic items.
The US Department of Homeland Security, of which the TSA is part, is also asking that airlines and airport authorities in Europe and elsewhere examine the shoes of passengers headed for the US and increase random screenings of travelers, US media outlets reported.
It cited one source as saying the unspecified threat was “different and more disturbing than past aviation plots.”
“We felt that it was important to crank it up some at the last point-of-departure airports,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told NBC Television’s Meet the Press. “And we’ll continually evaluate the situation.”
“We know that there remains a terrorist threat to the United States. And aviation security is a large part of that,” he added.
On Wednesday last week, US officials had publicly demanded enhanced security for airports in Europe and the Middle East with direct flights to the US.
They did not confirm whether they had intelligence about a specific plot, but their actions suggested alarm.
The request was “based on real-time intelligence,” according to a Homeland Security Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Western intelligence services have said that hundreds of militants traveling from Europe to fight in the Middle East could pose a security risk on their return. Most European passport-holders do not need a visa to travel to the US.
Of particular concern is al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based branch of the terror network.
US and other intelligence services say AQAP is passing on sophisticated bombmaking expertise to militants fighting in Syria for use against Western targets — most prominently, passenger aircraft.
AQAP “is always the group we think about when we talk about undetectable bombs,” a US intelligence official said on Friday last week.
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