Bomb-sneak fear tightens airports

Search-beating ploy reported

WASHINGTON -- Passengers flying to the U.S. from some airports in the Middle East and Europe will be put through tougher security screening in response to intelligence that a terrorist group in Yemen has developed a new method for smuggling a bomb onto a jetliner, two U.S. counterterrorism officials said Wednesday.

Intelligence agencies recently learned that a bomb-maker working for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist group's Yemen affiliate, had created a technique for hiding explosives that could evade existing metal detectors, body scanners and pat-downs, the officials said.

Officials are concerned that the method could be shared with Western fighters in Syria who might have valid passports and visas that would allow them to board a flight to the U.S.

The agencies did not have details about a specific plot directed at U.S.-bound airlines, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

In response to the information, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is ordering the Transportation Security Administration to take "enhanced security measures" in the coming days.

Foreign airports have to meet a series of requirements from the Homeland Security Department and the Transportation Security Administration for the screening of cargo and passengers on U.S.-bound flights. The United States helps perform passenger screening at some airports.

"We will work to ensure these necessary steps pose as few disruptions to travelers as possible," Johnson said in a statement Wednesday. Johnson said details about the security concerns would be shared with foreign allies and airlines to protect passengers.

"Aviation security includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, informed by an evolving environment," Johnson said.

In recent years, bomb-makers working for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula have come up with sophisticated ways to hide explosives.

On Christmas Day 2009, a Nigerian passenger successfully concealed a bomb in his underwear on a Northwest Airlines passenger jet bound for Detroit. The device went up in flames but failed to explode. The assailant was sentenced to life in prison.

The al-Qaida cell in Yemen also is blamed for a plan in October 2010 to hide bombs in printer toner cartridges and blow up two U.S. cargo planes. An informant tipped off Saudi intelligence officials and the plot was disrupted.

One counterterrorism official said American intelligence has picked up indications that bomb-makers from the Yemen group have traveled to Syria to link up with the al-Qaida affiliate there, where the groups are working to perfect a new explosive device that could foil airport security.

Americans and others from the West have traveled to Syria over the past year to join the militants' fight against the Syrian government. The fear is that fighters with U.S. or Western passports -- who are therefore subject to less stringent security screening -- could carry such a bomb onto an American plane.

The extra security is out of an "abundance of caution," the U.S. official said.

"People should not overreact to it or over-speculate about what's going on, but there clearly are concerns centered around aviation security that we need to be vigilant about," Johnson said late Wednesday on MSNBC.

Meanwhile, the State Department has instructed U.S. Embassy employees in Algeria to avoid U.S.-owned or operated hotels through the Fourth of July and the Algerian Independence Day on Saturday.

"As of June 2014 an unspecified terrorist group may have been considering attacks in Algiers, possibly in the vicinity of a U.S.-branded hotel," according to the message from the U.S. Embassy in Algeria.

State Department spokesman Jen Psaki did not provide details about the reasons for the increased security.

Information for this article was contributed by Brian Bennett of the Tribune Washington Bureau; by Michael S. Schmidt and Eric Schmitt of The New York Times; and by Ken Dilanian, Eileen Sullivan and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 07/03/2014

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