President Obama wants airport security enhanced without making air travel so onerous that potential travelers pass on cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages.
President Obama said during a televised press briefing on Thursday, 1/7, that We must do better with keeping dangerous people off airplanes while facilitating travel.
He stated that the government must respond aggressively to the failures that nearly resulted in a Nigerian man blowing up a Northwest plane headed for Detroit on Christmas day.
Obama noted that significant investments are being set aside to develop and deploy enhanced screening methods and technology. He also sited a need for improved international airport scanning procedures and technology.
President Obama told the Department of Homeland Security to spend $1 billion on advanced technology equipment for of screening of travelers, including body scanners to be used at US airports.
Among the changes Obama directed is that intelligence reports concerning potential threats are shared more widely and quicker between agencies. He also asked the State Department to review its visa policy with the aim of making it more difficult for people with terrorism ties to get visas, at the same time making it easier to revoke visas when new troubling information is uncovered.
The President said We will not succumb to a siege mentality.