From today's Washington Post:
U.S. Checking Foreign Airlines for Terror Risks
By Sara Kehaulani Goo and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 24, 2003; Page A04
New U.S. intelligence is prompting stepped-up scrutiny into whether foreign airports and airlines have been penetrated by individuals sympathetic to terrorist groups, U.S. law enforcement officials said.
U.S. security officials have been thoroughly checking the identities of foreign flight crews before their departures from U.S. airports and upon their arrival in the United States. U.S. officials have questioned a small number of crew members in recent weeks after their names appeared to be similar to those on the FBI's "watch lists" of suspected terrorists, Bush administration sources said yesterday.
The officials said there have been no arrests and declined to identify the air carriers involved.
"At this time, our customs and border-protection inspectors are increasing scrutiny of all international passengers coming into the United States," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
The most recent U.S. intelligence reports that prompted the government to elevate the nation's alert level on Sunday to "code orange" or "high," indicate that terrorists may target U.S.-bound flights from overseas, although other methods of attack, such as use of a "dirty" bomb that spreads radioactive materials, are also possible. Law enforcement officials said they are concerned about security throughout the country but in particular in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.In an unusual event, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Los Angeles city officials said last night that said they will forbid passengers from being picked up or dropped off by private vehicles at the Los Angeles International Airport terminal during the holidays. Passengers will have to be picked up and dropped off at nearby parking garages. It is the first time in nearly two years that a major U.S. airport has restricted access in that fashion.
"Terrorist operatives remain interested in bombings, suicide hijackings and even the possible use of man-portable air defense systems," or shoulder-fired missile, said a Department of Homeland Security memo to U.S. airports issued Sunday that was obtained by The Washington Post. The department continues "to receive uncorroborated reports that extremists may attempt to hijack or bomb commercial aircraft both in the United States and abroad."
Passengers coming into at least one major U.S. international airport on Air France and flights from Mexico will be subject to more security procedures beginning today, according to an aviation industry official and two other sources. Some foreign airlines are planning to have their countries' armed air marshals on board U.S.-bound flights, sources said.
Miguel Monterrubio, a Mexican Embassy spokesman, said authorities from his country are cooperating with U.S. officials to "avoid any security risk." He declined to discuss specific security procedures.
A French official said there have been "some very intense exchanges" between U.S. and French officials on efforts "to share intelligence and to reflect on how we could prevent any possible terrorist attacks."
Air France has 25 scheduled daily flights to the United States. A spokesman declined to comment on the airline's security procedures.
The Department of Homeland Security said that it issued the same directions to all international carriers to step up security during the heightened alert and that no specific airline is being targeted.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. officials have expressed frustration that security at some foreign airports is nowhere near as tight as it is at U.S. airports. The U.S. complaints have intensified in recent months, officials and security experts said.
"You can understand the concerns of U.S. intelligence about this, because security at some foreign airports is appallingly low," said Chris Yates, an aviation-security analyst at the Jane's Aviation consulting service.
Yates said that among the airports with spotty security are many regional ones in Russia, whose flights feed into Moscow's airport, and mid-size airports around the Middle East whose flights connect to cities such as Cairo. In many Muslim countries, he said, women who set off alarms going through security are not searched because of cultural sensitivities.
The United States earlier this year revoked the right of two Saudi pilots to fly into the United States, as part of a secretive new program run by the TSA that can bar pilots if the agency decides they "pose a security threat." The TSA said it has not taken similar action since then.
Foreign pilots must undergo a Department of Homeland Security background check, which includes a review of any criminal history. After the terrorist attacks in 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration created a database of foreign flight crews from 17 foreign airlines.
Foreign crews are matched to the database and the FBI watch lists. The Department of Homeland Security said it has flagged foreign pilots for questions relating to the background checks, crew database and watch lists.
"It happens on occasion that those pilots are told they can't fly into the U.S.," an administration official said.
At U.S. airports, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection inspectors have stepped up scrutiny of foreign flight crews after they arrive, according to Frank A. Clark, executive director of LAX Tech Corp., an organization that represents 46 international carriers with service to Los Angeles International, one of the largest international airports in the world.
It is not uncommon, Clark said, for some members of foreign flight crews to be questioned and held for 45 minutes to an hour, as U.S. officials verify their identities. Often crew members have the same or similar last names as people on the watch lists, Clark said.
"We see, on occasions, a crew member . . . held and questioned extensively," Clark said. Usually it's because the crew member has the "Asian version of Smith or the Arabic version of Smith" as a last name, he said.
Clark said the tightening of security started in September, after the Department of Homeland Security canceled a program that allowed some passengers to move through U.S. airports without visas. That action, which was taken out of concern that terrorists could exploit the program and slip into the country, prompted changes for foreign carriers, he said.
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Another article on the same subject:
HOMELAND SECURITY
Foreign Aviation Security Lags Behind U.S., Experts Say
By CHUCK McCUTCHEON
WASHINGTON _ The Bush administration needs to convince other countries to tighten their aviation security to prevent foreign airplanes crossing the United States from being used as weapons, homeland security experts said Monday.
Experts also said the United States should refocus attention on air cargo safety in light of the raised threat warning by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Officials are particularly worried that al-Qaida will use airplanes as they did in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Ridge said. "They're always looking ... to return to methods that they've used successfully before."
With security at U.S. airports tighter than it was before Sept. 11, several experts said foreign airlines and airports must follow suit.
"I have no fear of flying on any American air carriers, but I am concerned about certain foreign carriers," said Harvey Kushner, a criminal justice professor at Long Island University and author of several books on terrorism...
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/...eon122303.html
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More reports of a possible al-Qaida U.S. attack using foreign airlines from MSNBC:
NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 8:57 p.m. ET Dec. 23, 2003
New intelligence information indicates that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy personally approved the suspected terrorist attack plan that led the government to raise the nation's terror threat assessment this week, U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence agencies had gathered detailed information about the plan, in which they said al-Qaida operatives would hijack foreign airliners and fly them into targets in the United States. In some instances, the intelligence is so detailed as to include specific flight numbers, they said.
The Defense Department said Tuesday that it was broadening air patrols throughout the country. Security forces have put several U.S. airports under intense scrutiny, the U.S. officials told NBC's Jim Miklaszewski, specifically naming Newark International Airport in New Jersey...
...The new intelligence adds details to information about the al-Qaida plot first reported Monday by NBC News, which quoted U.S. officials as saying the terrorist threat assessment was raised over the weekend because of indications that al-Qaida operatives may now be fully trained and licensed pilots for some foreign airlines, ideally positioning them to carry out suicide attacks...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3775771/