The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is considering expanding its carry-on restrictions for electronic devices to include flights departing from the United States, according to CNN.
In March, restrictions were announced that prevented U.S.-bound passengers from eight Middle Eastern countries from carrying certain electronic devices in the passenger cabin. The TSA order, which does not have a stated end date, covers laptops, tablets, e-readers, cameras, portable DVD players, and handheld gaming devices larger than a smartphone.
However, those restrictions could also soon include flights departing from the United States, according to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, who spoke briefly to reporters on Friday.
When asked whether it is true that he has hinted the laptop ban could expand to US soil, Kelly said that those characterizations of his thinking are accurate.
"No, they didn't misread me," he answered. "I would tell you that the threats against passenger aviation worldwide are constant. The good news is that we have great intelligence collection overseas -- US intelligence collection. We also have great sharing with partners overseas. So, we are doing everything we can to get after these threats -- but they are real."
As with the original ban, the U.S. officials declined to comment on any new or specific threats, but implied that the decision had been made on evaluated intelligence.
The original ban applies to Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. The nine airlines impacted by that order are Royal Jordanian, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Saudia, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Ethiad Airways. The United Kingdom issued a similar ban covering flights from six countries shortly after the U.S. announcement.
Last week, Politico reported that U.S. airlines are making preparations for an "imminent" expansion of the ban to Europe and possibly other regions.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Top Rated Comments
USA is getting less and less attractive to travel to as a tourist tbh
i am already avoiding the US as a stop over since you guys have no transit zone and it is such a hassle to get through TSA. No thank you
A country where the Second Amendment is engraved or tattooed on people's bodies, hearts, souls and minds - and thinks that background checks on some of the individuals who seek to purchase weapons that kill are an invasion of civil liberties - has problems with e-readers, tablets and computers on planes?
Time for some smartarse getting explosices into material, we can fly nude without bringing anything on board.
And why the need for that last dismissive sentence? Can you not argue the point in a post without the need to add insult? Those who dislike the idea of societies armed to the teeth dislike armed societies that fetishise guns and the right to bear them; that does not - in any way - make them "sissies".
Firstly, I do not think that guns are the reason for hate in this world, and if I thought that, I would have written it as I am quite capable of articulating my thoughts on paper.
However, - but this is a separate debate - I will say that I am of the opinion that religion - in all its forms - causes far more than its fair share of hate in the world.
Re guns, my comment was more an observation on what seems to be a growing atmosphere of fear and paranoia that increasingly governs the tone of much discourse that emanates from the US.
I come from a country where the police do not carry arms, let alone the population.
Needless to say, I do not deny that we face challenges, but I do not wish to live in a world governed by fearful attitudes and dictated to by paranoia.