Janet Napolitano said her deputy secretary, an assistant secretary for policy and others will go to airports in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America. AP
The Department of Homeland Security is sending senior officials to international airports around the world to review security measures and screening technology for flights headed to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her deputy secretary, an assistant secretary for policy and others will go to airports in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and South America. She said she would “follow up” with “ministerial-level meetings” in the coming weeks.
The announcement comes as elected officials and former intelligence officials cite the need for broader international cooperation to prevent terrorist attacks after a Nigerian boarded a plane with explosives on Christmas. On Thursday alone, Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of a homeland security committee, called for broader help from other countries, and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Europe should share its intelligence databases with the United States.
The Homeland Security officials will brief foreign authorities on the results of President Obama’s air-safety reviews, a news release states.
“As part of the ongoing review to determine exactly what went wrong leading up to Friday’s attempted terrorist attack, we are looking not only at our own processes, but also beyond our borders to ensure effective aviation security measures are in place for U.S-bound flights that originate at international airports,” Napolitano said in the release.
