DHS To Require More Screening For U.S.-Bound Private Planes

By EILEEN SULLIVAN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -The Homeland Security Department will soon require advance information on private flights to the United States to prevent a terrorist from smuggling a nuclear bomb into the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday that the new regulations could eventually be expanded to include radiation scans at points in Europe and Asia for private planes flying to the U.S.

Private aircraft have not undergone the intense screening given to U.S.-bound cargo and commercial flights.

“I have spent three years talking about people putting nuclear bombs in containers and cargo ships. And we have now got to where we basically scan all those containers,” Chertoff said during a question-and-answer session with reporters.

“But in thinking about what I would do if I were a terrorist … it occurred to me that why would I put the bomb in the container, if I can rent the jet and put it in the jet?” he said, and added that the new security measures will dramatically reduce that risk.

Most of the 400 private planes that fly to the U.S. each day are from Europe and Asia, Chertoff said. The U.S. also is working with Canada to put similar rules into place for flights arriving there.

Chertoff said his department may also work with Latin American countries so that a nuclear bomb could not be flown into those countries on private planes.

“We want to first address that threat which would come in through the shortest and most direct route,” he said. “And once we’ve got that dealt with, we’ll need to think about more indirect routes.”

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)