Closed captioning of: New air security measures implemented
>>>
permission and clearance. there is also news tonight on
airline security
. new screening procedures for passengers on flights to the u.s. from overseas. this is the latest response by the
obama
administration to that attempt to bomb a u.s. passenger plane in detroit on
christmas day
. more on the story tonight from our justice correspondent
pete williams
.
>>
reporter: administration officials say the failed plot to bomb a plane to detroit on
christmas day
by a man with explosives hidden in his underwear actually provided a needed jolt to shake up
airline security
. now the government is making a big change to a system started just three months ago, to evaluate who should be pulled aside at airports overseas for secondary screening, including patdowns or interviews or inspection in one of the full
body image
scanners.
>>
it is a more information-based way to screen. it's a stronger way to determine whether passengers should go through secondary examination and not just primary examination.
>>
reporter: gone is the practice started just in january of giving extra screening to anyone traveling from 14 countries where terror groups were known to operate or draw support. instead, screeners overseas will be urged to focus on other indicators. such as partial names, fragments of passport numbers, travel patterns or physical descriptions. anything of value in screening that's derived from current threat intelligence. they'll continue to look at such obvious factors as people who have recently been in yemen, a new
al qaeda
strong hold. a former
homeland security
official says it's a good idea but has potential drawbacks.
>>
we'll be conveying intelligence to these screeners and that means leaks, so we're going to have more leaks and we're going to have to find ways to determine who we can trust.
>>
reporter: some parts of the system will not change. the no-fly list will still be used. in fact, since january, the number of people on it has more than dribbled.
pete williams
,
nbc
news,
washington
.
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