Go-ahead for airport body scanners
The controversial technology is expected to be introduced at Heathrow and other hubs within weeks after the Prime Minister said it was “essential” to tackle a new terrorist threat.
They will initially operate alongside metal detectors, and be used for all flights in and out of Britain. But Mr Brown insisted the inconvenience to travellers would be kept to a minimum.
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Hide AdThe announcement came as a row erupted over the Government’s response to the failed Detroit airliner plot, with the Tories accusing the premier of “playing politics” with public safety.
Downing Street issued a statement yesterday morning suggesting that since the abortive attack on Christmas Day Mr Brown and US President Barack Obama had personally agreed joint funding for a counter-terrorism police unit in Yemen.
But Mr Brown was quickly forced to admit in an interview that he had not spoken directly to Mr Obama, and the plans had already been in place before the incident.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling accused Number 10 of “exaggeration and spin”.
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Hide AdIn a wide-ranging interview on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show, Mr Brown revealed that the decision had been taken to deploy the full-body scanners – which cost around 100,000 each and see through passengers’ clothes.
Mr Brown accepted there was no way to be certain that the devices would be “100 per cent” effective. But he added: “We have found that there is a new form of explosive that is not being identified by ordinary machines. We have got to go further. Our first duty is to the security of the people of this country.”
The Premier said he hoped the new arrangements would not cause too much delay for passengers.
Alongside body scanners, airports are expected to bring in more sniffer dogs and increase their use of passenger profiling.
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Hide AdHand-luggage is also expected to be swabbed for traces of explosive, and passengers could be re-searched just before boarding.
A spokesman for airport operator BAA said: “Now that the Government has given the go-ahead, we will introduce full-body scanners as soon as practical.
“It is our view that a combination of technology, intelligence and passenger profiling will help build a more robust defence against the unpredictable and changing nature of the terrorist threat to aviation.”
However, Mr Brown insisted that preventing terrorists from carrying out attacks was not enough.
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Hide Ad“We have also got to get back to the source of this and that is Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan,” he said.
Both the US and the UK embassies in Yemen were closed yesterday in response to the “ongoing threat” from al-Qaida.
Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is said to have told FBI agents that he was radicalised and trained in the country within the last six months, before allegedly attempting to blow up the plane on Christmas Day.
nPresident Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser insisted yesterday that US intelligence agencies did not miss a “smoking gun” that could have prevented Abdulmutallab’s alleged attempt to blow up the US airliner.
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Hide AdWhite House aide John Brennan cited “lapses” and errors in the sharing of intelligence and clues about him.
“There is no smoking gun,” Mr Brennan said. “There was no single piece of intelligence that said, ‘this guy is going to get on a plane’.”
Mr Brennan is leading a White House review of the incident. Mr Obama has said there was a systemic failure to prevent the attack, which he said was instigated by an affiliate in Yemen of the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Comment: Page 10.