that could dramatically extend a ban announced in March that affects about 50 flights per day from 10 cities, in the main within the core East. The current ban changed into put in region as a result of considerations about terrorist attacks.
The ban prevents travelers from bringing laptops, drugs and likely different gadgets on board with them of their raise-on luggage. All electronics greater than a smartphone must be checked in.
Kelly became requested on "Fox news Sunday" even if he would extend the ban to cowl laptops on all foreign flights into and out of the U.S.
His answer: "I could."
The present U.S. ban applies to nonstop U.S.-bound flights from 10 international airports in Amman, Jordan; Kuwait city, Kuwait; Cairo; Istanbul; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. About 50 flights a day, all on overseas airlines, are affected.
previous this month, there were stories that the Trump administration would broaden the ban to encompass planes from the eu Union, affecting trans-Atlantic routes that raise as many as 65 million individuals a 12 months.
U.S. officials have observed that initial ban became not according to any particular risk but on longstanding considerations about extremists targeting jetliners.
"there's a true danger," Kelly pointed out, including that terrorists are "obsessed" with the idea of downing a airplane in flight, "especially if it be a U.S. provider, especially if it be full of commonly U.S. folks. it's real."
Kelly mentioned that the U.S. is going "to lift the bar for, generally speaking, aviation protection an awful lot better than it's now, and there is new applied sciences down the road, now not too far down the road, that we are going to rely on. but it surely is a real refined probability, and that i'll reserve making that decision until we see where it be going."
while Kelly noted "a true refined possibility," the Trump administration's spending plan for the budget yr that starts off Oct. 1 would make gigantic cuts to airport security programs.
© 2017 associated Press syndicated under contract with NewsEdge/purchase Media. All rights reserved.
