Friday, June 15, 2012
Under the Obama administration, airport security is no longer a priority on American soil only. U.S. security officials now are screening airline passengers at foreign airports before they board planes bound for the United States.
Fourteen airports around the world are currently involved in the special program set up by the Department of Homeland Security. In Shannon, Ireland, for example, a series of negotiations led to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers being allowed to screen individuals for explosives.
At airports in Spain, Panama, and Japan, CBP simply advises local screeners on how to do their jobs. But in Abu Dhabi, the government plans to build a special terminal where American officers will screen passengers seeking to fly to the United States.
“It’s a really big deal—it would be like us saying you can have foreign law enforcement operating in a U.S. facility with all the privileges given to law enforcement, but we are going to do it on your territory and on our rules,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told The New York Times. “So you flip it around, and you realize it is a big deal for a country to agree to that. It is also an expensive proposition.”
The Obama administration reportedly ramped up the program following the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day 2009.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
U.S. Security Expands Presence at Foreign Airports (by Michael S. Schmidt, New York Times)
FY 2012 Budget in Brief (Department of Homeland Security)
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