While American airports have installed document checkers and created the Secure Flight program, other countries have taken different approaches in order to curb terrorism in the air.
At a recent news conference in Spain, Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said, “What we do not want is a cookie cutter approach-where the same measures are in place everywhere-because then terrorists can plan and work around them.”
Spain currently holds the rotating president of the EU and wants the entire union to make a unanimous decision about full-body scanners being installed in airport security checkpoints.
Countries in the EU are also encouraged to begin sharing data with security services in other EU states. Current policy only mandates that EU countries share information using the Passenger Name Record (PNR) system with airlines operating trans-Atlantic flights. The European Commissioner for Justice, Jacques Barrot also mentioned the possible institution of European air marshals.
Britain is taking an alternative course in an attempt to reduce the risk of a terrorist attack. The country has made an effort to tighten security of its borders because of the “abuse of student visa rules by migrant jobseekers and potential terrorists.”
These new security measures were pushed by the US after the turmoil caused by the thwarted terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab on Christmas Day. These new restrictions will affect those applying from outside the UN, but will target those from the “Indian subcontinent and countries in the Arab and Muslim world” because of the large numbers of “allegedly fake applicants” that originate from these areas.