Aviation Security: USA seeks broader commitment to aviation security
March 31st, 2010
US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano was attending her third aviation security conference this year when she flew into Tokyo this month for the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Aviation Security. Top of her agenda has been to get a commitment from countries to tighten security further in the wake of the failed attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it approached Detroit on Christmas Day. Transport Minister Steven Joyce says the attempted terror attack was “a wake-up call” for those at the Tokyo meeting. “There was real caution amongst our peers.”
Napolitano repeated her position in seeking support from NZ during the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the conference. She also urged NZ to play a role in encouraging smaller Pacific nations to improve aviation security. “The world needs to lift their game.” The conference vowed to step up measures including the use of new screening technologies. Aust is moving to full body scanners at airports, as was canvassed in its aviation white paper released before Christmas.
NZ is taking “a cautious approach” to body scanners, which are very expensive. The nation is taking a proportionate response to the threat. Attendees at the Tokyo conference agreed to broaden co-operation, share expertise and make more use of sky marshals. Napolitano says the conference reached “strong consensus about the need to act and to do so with urgency.”
Copyright © Media Information Ltd
NZ Transport Intelligence Briefing
Amalgamated Dairies
Strait Shipping