Airport Security | featured news

Airline passengers across India went through extra security screenings Friday and sky marshals were placed on flights as the government put its airports on high alert amid reports that al-Qaida-linked militants planned to hijack a plane.

The United States does not want countries to use identical airport security systems which could make it easier for potential attackers to elude them, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.

The nation’s top counterterrorism officials are testifying Wednesday before Congress about the Christmas bombing plot.

The TSA recently announced that airport security scanners which can see under clothing are being installed at 10 U.S. airports, according to the AFP. Travelers will enter glass booths while a 3-dimensional full-body image is rendered using "millimeter waves." Because the image gives a clear representation of travelers' bodies and genitalia, it has some people concerned about their privacy.

Algeria said on Monday a U.S. decision to subject its citizens to extra airport security checks was unjustified and discriminatory.

The discovery of a hazardous substance inside a passenger's luggage prompted the evacuation of the Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield on Tuesday morning.

The US has moved dozens of names on to "watch" and "no-fly" lists in the wake of an alleged airliner plot, officials say.

Air travelers from Nigeria, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and nine other countries will face full-body pat downs before boarding airliners under new security screening procedures targeting foreign passengers announced by the United States on Sunday.

Passengers on international flights face pat-down searches, new limits on carry-on luggage and more thorough screening at airport checkpoints.

Travelers taking international flights to the United States on Saturday faced pat-down searches, new limits on carry-on luggage and more thorough screening at airport checkpoints after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to bomb a jetliner headed to Detroit.

Passengers boarding planes at some American airports are being asked to pass through whole body scanners at security checkpoints, which penetrate their clothing.