bmibaby737

Basically a sleeper onboard a 747, a special ops team are trying to track him down mid flight while the plane has been hijacked.

When I Travel The World

Steven Seagal is in it for about 5 minutes lol

boutela

Reported in Foreign Policy: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/16/...e-middle-east/

Not much new information, but the venue suggests seriousness.

PETER01

I can't see that article on clicking the link as it's a subscription service/register to get 5 free articles a month. Can you quote some of it please? TIA

CasaDeTony

Apparently Trump started sharing intel on the threat a few days ago... with Russia.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/u...fied.html?_r=0

boutela

Sure, sorry, though as I said it doesn't really contain anything new relative to previous reporting:

"DHS Deputy Secretary Elaine Duke is expected to fly to Brussels Wednesday to hammer out the details of a potential laptop ban with European Union officials."

"DHS spokesman David Lapan said no final decision had been reached to broaden the ban. At Wednesday’s meetings, officials aim to “assess any new threats and work towards a common approach to address them,” the EC spokesman said."

"DHS will need time to update current screening technologies and retrain bomb-sniffing dogs, at which point the ban could potentially be relaxed. I’ve seen [bans] last six months, I’ve seen them last three months, but they aren’t permanent security protocols,” Cohen said.

Fredrik74

I thought the ban was for flights originating outside of the US? And if DHS thinks more time is needed to fix the process then I'd think that domestic flights also needed to have a electronics ban?

muishkin

If the more rigorous screening process of hold luggage can detect the bomb, couldn't the airport offer a service to pick up your laptop and/or other electronics at the gate?

frank_poulankh

If I understand correctly what's been written above, it sounds like the rigour is a direct result of the time spent with the hold luggage. If it's just a quick scan after deposit at the gate, it appears there'd be no more protection than with the normal hand luggage scan.

scillyisles

and yet in one of the articles about this last week, there were quotes from one European Airline Security official that in many cases hold luggage was not screened as thorough as hand luggage and in some cases not screened at all.

boutela

I read it as meaning they could set procedures for foreign security handlers to follow as conditions of relaxing the ban. (Or perhaps for their own additional at-gate security.) But yes, the logic of only having this at airports outside the US, while including Europe, seems potentially a little thin.

muishkin

I was implying that they can do the rigorous scan, and then give back the electronics during boarding. After all, the hold luggage usually gets loaded onto the aircraft around the same time as boarding.

T8191

"Keep Calm and Carry On" ... Pun intended.

boutela

And appreciated. :-)

NWIFlyer

I would suspect this is referring to cargo shipments on passenger aircraft rather than passenger luggage.

The former certainly has more holes in the supply chain than the latter, which is why it's somewhat baffling that the US authorities haven't actually addressed what many might regard as a more serious and real problem.