U.S. to toughen airline security without laptop ban expansion

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States announced Wednesday, June 28 it would implement tough new security rules for all airlines flying into the country, but held off from a threatened expansion of its carry-on laptop ban, AFP reports.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said evolving terror threats made it imperative to raise overall security standards, rather than take a piecemeal approach on personal electronics.

"Make no mistake: our enemies are constantly working to find new methods for disguising explosives, recruiting insiders, and hijacking aircraft," Kelly said.

"We cannot play international whack-a-mole with each new threat. Instead, we must put in place new measures across the board to keep the traveling public safe and make it harder for terrorists to succeed."

The move put off for the moment an extension of the ban on laptops and other carry-on personal electronics to flights from Europe, something that had been under discussion for months.

The laptop ban was instituted in March for eight North African and Middle East countries based on intelligence that the Islamic State group was working to build a bomb into a tablet or laptop computer.

For the same reason, Britain also banned similar-sized electronics from being carried into cabins on direct flights from six countries.