Pat Down is Here to Stay on U.S.-Bound Flights
By Ingy Fahmy
In light of the two incidents that occurred in two different airports during the busiest time of the year, the Christmas Holidays, tightened security measures have been put into effect immediately. The transportation Security Administration (TSA) is applying new security rules to passengers flying to the United States from the following 14 countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
These 14 countries are especially identified because they are “stable sponsors of terrorism”, such as Iran, Syria, Cuba, and Sudan, or because they are “countries of interest”, such as the remaining ten nations. According to the State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism for 2009, new countries may have made the list due to recent happenings. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has “moved arms back into southern Lebanon where it was providing training to members of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). In Sudan, there is evidence of the existence of terrorist elements of Al-Qaida as well as elements of the Palestine Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Nigeria and Yemen both made the list because they are the countries that Umar Abdulmutallab emerged from with the plan to bomb the plane to Detroit, Michigan. Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan are countries in which the United States is in a state of war. Libya is a country that has reduced its advocacy for international terrorism, but it is still in contact with some terrorist individuals and organizations.
These upgraded security measures are in response to, first an attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. Mar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who is believed to have received training from Al-Qaida operatives in Yemen, was charged with the attempt to blow up the plane with explosives sewn into his underwear. This attempt was a response to the incident that rose from the Continental Airlines terminal at Newark Airport. Security footage showed an unidentified person passing through an exit lane to a secure area without being screened. The airport went into lockdown as all flights were grounded and all passengers were returned to the ticketing area for rescreening. The unidentified individual could not be found.
Citizens of the above-mentioned 14 notions or passengers holding passports from those nations, taking flights that originated or passed through any of them, will be subjected to full-body pat downs and will face extra scrutiny of their carry-on bag before boarding on United States-bound flights. This intensive screening will be enforced at airports worldwide. Also, this new system treats people differently based on their nationality or the country from which they are traveling.
However, eased conditions for Americans and most other nationalities that do not fly through the 14 countries on their way to the United States are on the way. These passengers will no longer be subjected to automatically intensified security regulations imposed after the Christmas Day incidents.
At present, only flights to the United States are deeply affected. Airlines are currently telling passengers to “plan to arrive at the airport at least three hours in advance of their flight’s departure to allow extra time for check-in and the boarding process”, and “passengers will be required to cooperate with cabin crew on any other in-flight security measures instructed”. Now, life for travelers is likely to become more complicated once again because pat downs are here to stay on United States-bound flights.
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