NBC NewsWire/REUTERS U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson ordered increased security measures at airports last week. U.S. Homeland Security officials “felt it important to crank up” security measures at certain overseas airports last week, agency chief Jeh Johnson admitted Sunday — with new intense procedures, including the requirement that some passengers power on their electronic devices before boarding, in place to detect new types of bombs.
U.S.-bound passengers at some overseas airports may now have to turn on their cell phones, tablets and computers during security screenings, the Transportation Security Administration said Sunday in a statement posted to the department’s website.
The agency, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, added that powerless devices will not be permitted on board any U.S.-bound aircraft.
The latest measures are designed to help security officials detect a new generation of bombs that may have been able to evade discovery under previous security protocols.
Johnson would not disclose what countries or airports were affected by the new procedures, but admitted that the U.S. still faces a considerable terrorism threat.
RALPH ORLOWSKI/REUTERS Passngers at London’s Heathrow Airport have already noticed new measures, including an increased number of patdowns and swabs for explosive devices. “Our job is to try to anticipate the next attack, not simply react to the last one,” Johnson said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We know that there remains a terrorist threat to the United States. And aviation security is a large part of that.”
“We felt that it was important to crank (security) up some at the last point of departure (international) airports. And we'll continually evaluate the situation,” added Johnson, who didn’t himself comment on the specific procedures announced by the TSA.
Last week Johnson ordered the TSA to increase security measures at certain airports over fears that Islamic Jihadists in Syria, Iraq and Yemen could be developing new types of hard-to-detect bombs to smuggle on to planes headed to the U.S.
Experts have suggested that the new devices could be rewired electronic devices, that still look normal, which have been jiggered to detonate upon being turned on.
ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images An air traveler is patted down after passing through a full-body scanner at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport. U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that terrorist are developing new and improved bombs that could go undetected through airport security. Other security experts have speculated that the new bombs could be nonmetallic explosives that have been surgically implanted inside a traveler's body.
While officials at many airports, both domestic and international, have been mostly mum on what new procedures have already gone into effect, some passengers have reportedly noticed a new pattern of protocols.
U.S.-bound passengers at London’s Heathrow Airport, for example, told NBC reporters that they’ve seen a number of new measure in action, including additional swab tests for explosives on laptops, tablets, cell phones and shoes.
With News Wire Services
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