Originally Posted by
mozilla
I suspected that they're prepping CDG, GVA and ZRH to become new pre-clearance airports, but these airports never appeared on the DHS list of selected airports for future pre-clearance.
I think the word "pre-clearance" here might be a red herring. It does not sound like the bags are being cleared in Europe. Rather, they are being cleared in IAD without being physically present at the immigration desk. The CBP officer has the ability and authority to pull up the bag for an inspection if they want. So the 90% of people who don't get searched don't need to wait 20 minutes to lug their bags 150 feet, and the 10% of people who do are just slightly more inconvenienced as they wait for their bag to be pulled. Note that they can do drug dog and X-ray inspection in the luggage handling facility without you being present and flag your bag for inspection if warranted.
Anyhow, definitely a good move. But not sure it's related to "pre-clearance" in any way.