The Transportation Security Administration will implement “enhanced security measures” at overseas airports that have direct flights into the United States, due to escalated concerns that terrorists could smuggle bombs on commercial planes.
The Department of Homeland Security did not specify Wednesday which airports or what countries would be affected, nor did it say what triggered the enhanced measures, Reuters reported.
“We are sharing recent and relevant information with our foreign allies and are consulting the aviation industry,” DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
However, sources told ABC News in an earlier report that the crackdown comes amid concerns that terrorists in Syria and Yemen have teamed up to develop a new generation of bombs that could be smuggled onto commercial planes.
“This is never a decision that [DHS] makes lightly,” one source said. “It’s something that has to be warranted. It has to be something particularly serious for [DHS] to even consider increasing security.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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