By ERIC LIPTON
c.2010 New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration moved Monday to tighten air cargo security, banning large toner and ink cartridges from passenger flights and demanding new inspections on "high risk" shipments headed to the United States on all-cargo flights.
The new measures, which were put in place as of Monday, are intended to prevent a repeat of a cargo plot last month. In that plot, printer cartridges packed with explosives were sent from Yemen via express-mail companies, with the intent of blowing up planes headed to the United States.
Security officials remain concerned that larger toner and ink cartridges present a hazard because explosives could be hidden inside. The ban, which also was adopted on Monday in Canada, applies only to cartridges that weigh at least 1 pound - typically cartridges for office printers and copy machines. The ban affects checked baggage and carry-ons and will be in place on certain all-cargo flights.
The broader new air cargo inspection requirement imposed Monday applies to international mail packages as well as other packages that are deemed "high risk." Airlines or cargo companies that want to put these packages onto U.S.-bound flights must inspect the item, either by visually checking it or using a scanning device like an X-ray machine, Homeland Security officials said.
Homeland Security officials would not define what would make a package "high risk," but industry officials said the directives included certain shipments from countries where terrorists are known to operate or deliveries from an unknown shipper, like an individual who drops it off in person at an express mail office.
All air cargo shipments from Yemen to the United States will continue to be banned, as they have since shortly after the bombs were intercepted Oct. 29. But officials announced Monday that they were adding Somalia to the list, based on concern about terror groups operating there.
Homeland Security officials made clear that more changes were imminent, including most likely a demand that airlines and cargo companies provide detailed advance cargo manifests before cargo planes take off for the United States.
That information is typically required only four hours before an international arrival, which means it is too late for American authorities to use computer systems to evaluate who sent the package, what is in it and where it is going, to automatically select items for detailed inspection before departure.
Homeland Security officials acknowledged Monday that many cargo shipment offices at airports around the world, particularly those handling all-cargo flights, did not have advanced tools like explosive trace detection machines or bomb-sniffing dogs. As a result, they will have to rely on visual inspections, which can miss items like explosives hidden inside sealed packages.
The officials said they would push airlines and cargo companies globally to improve their screening equipment, investing in devices now used primarily for passenger planes, so they have a better chance of finding any hidden cargo bombs.