The United States is reportedly planning to discontinue its policy of nationality based security checks of America-bound travelers and will now select passengers for special scrutiny at airports on the basis of possible matches to intelligence information, including physical descriptions or a particular travel pattern.
According to senior officials, following immense criticism of the 'discriminate' screening of citizens from 14 specific countries, it has now been decided that passengers will be asked for additional security checks if they match certain pieces of known intelligence.
"The system will be much more intel-based, as opposed to blunt force," The Washington Post quoted a senior administration official as saying.
It may be noted that after the failed Christmas bombing plot, in which a Nigerian student, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, allegedly tried to ignite explosives sewn into his underwear just before a Detroit-bound plane was to touch down, the Barack Obama administration had ordered a significant increase in secondary searches, requiring all passengers from or traveling through Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Liberia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen to undergo extra security at the airport.
Travelers from countries considered state sponsors of terrorism like Cuba, Syria, Iran and Sudan were subjected to the same screening, including pat-downs and additional bag checks at airports, before boarding an aircraft to the US.
Though US officials revealed that the work on the new policy was going on, it is not being publicised as the members of the Congress are yet to be notified on the issue.
They said the new system would 'significantly' reduce the number of passengers chosen for mandatory extra screening, and remove a large number of travelers from the list, who had been chosen due to their nationalities.
It is worth mentioning that Pakistan has been vehemently opposing the US' 'strip search' laws
The Pakistani leadership, including Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, has appealed to Washington on several occasions to remove Pakistan's name from the list of countries whose citizens have to undergo 'full body screening'.
