Homeland Security, Airport Security | featured news

The nation's controversial airport pat-downs and full-body scanners are here to stay, at least for now.

Millions of Americans took to the skies on Wednesday for the start of the Thanksgiving holiday amid protests by some travelers about heightened security procedures.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration is acknowledging that the new pat-downs are more invasive than what travelers were used to in the past.

The US authorities ban toner and ink cartridges from passenger aircraft and all cargo flights from Yemen and Somalia, in the wake of a bomb plot.

A suspicious package discovered at the United Kingdom's East Midlands airport contained "viable explosives," and could have brought down an aircraft upon detonation, British Home Secretary Theresa May said Saturday.

The federal government is starting to deploy full-body imaging machines at an additional 11 airports across the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday.

New full-body airport security scanners using X-rays generate much lower doses than normal background radiation, a draft report compiled by international agencies says.

The United States will review soon a list of countries whose air travelers are subject to tighter screening and could remove nations like Nigeria if they are no longer deemed to be security threats, a U.S. official said.

The United States does not want countries to use identical airport security systems which could make it easier for potential attackers to elude them, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on Friday.

The nation’s top counterterrorism officials are testifying Wednesday before Congress about the Christmas bombing plot.