U.S. ‘Might’ Ban Laptops On International Flights

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Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says he “might” ban laptops in the passenger cabins of all international flights to and from the U.S. In an interview Sunday he said airliners with lots of Americans aboard are a prime target for terrorists and the ban wouldn’t be a response to a specific threat, but a general attitude within the security establishment. He told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace the U.S. “will raise the bar for, generally speaking, aviation security much higher than it is now, and there’s new technologies down the road, not too far down the road, that we’ll rely on. But it is a real sophisticated threat, and I’ll reserve making that decision until we see where it’s going.” Intelligence suggests extremists have developed laptop bombs that can get through normal security scans.

The U.S. now bans laptops on flights into the country from eight Middle Eastern countries. That ban affects about 50 flights a week. There was earlier discussion about expanding the ban to flights from Europe but the ban suggested by Kelly would affect thousands of flights and millions of passengers per day. Kelly didn’t say how long it will take him to decide on whether to implement the ban.

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