Transport Canada “is taking additional precautionary measures” after U.S. officials asked some overseas airports to heighten security due to concerns over undetectable bombs.
Late Wednesday, a U.S. counterterrorism official said new information has triggered concerns that al Qaeda has ramped up efforts to create an undetectable explosive in order to attack commercial airliners.
The Department of Homeland Security has asked an unspecified number of foreign airports with direct flights to the U.S. to increase security measures.
While flights from Canada were not expected to be part of the security request, Transport Canada said Thursday that it “is taking additional precautionary measures.
“The department will continue to monitor and assess the situation closely, and make adjustments when necessary,” a department spokesperson told CTV News.
Jana Regimbal said the department would not provide further details “for security reasons.”
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, which is responsible for security screening at Canadian airports, told CTV’s Mercedes Stephenson that there will be no change to its operations at Canadian airports.
Interestingly, the federal government announced Wednesday that it has updated the Canadian Aviation Security Regulations, including a change to allow security officers to carry loaded firearms aboard Canadian flights.
“A Canadian in-flight security officer who is acting in the course of their duties may carry or have access to a loaded firearm on board an aircraft operated by an air carrier,” said a notice in the latest edition of the Canada Gazette.
Undercover RCMP officers fly on Canadian planes as part of the Canadian Air Carrier Protective Program, which was established after 9-11 to prevent terror attacks on Canadian flights.
Meanwhile, the U.S. has shared “recent and relevant” information with foreign countries, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
"Aviation security includes a number of measures, both seen and unseen, informed by an evolving environment."
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that airports in the United Kingdom have put in place “extra checks” in the wake of the American request.
The U.S. counterterrorism official would not disclose what information led to the security request. However, officials have recently expressed concern that al Qaeda operatives are ramping up efforts to create “non-metallic explosives” that are implanted in a passenger’s body that would not be detected during security screening.
Security officials have also long been concerned about a passenger carrying liquids onto a plane that could later be mixed together to create an explosive.
Former FBI agent Brad Garrett said he has heard that terror groups are researching whether they can mix certain chemicals together that will not be explosive when wet, but will blow up when they dry.
“So the theory being you could wear a wet T-shirt aboard a plane, it would dry out and then it would explode,” Garrett told CTV News Channel in an interview from Washington.
However, he has not seen evidence that such a scheme could bring down an airplane.
“My sense would be it’s going to be more undetectable materials and/or chemicals that they get aboard the plane that they could mix and then upon mixing it becomes a bomb,” he said.
In recent years, counterterrorism experts have suggested that American, Canadian or European citizens could travel abroad for terrorist training and return with an explosive, and be subject to less vigorous security screening because they have a Western passport.
According to Garrett, officials are concerned that the “numbers will eventually catch up with us.
“You’ll have several hundred people potentially that could be either bombers or disrupt us in some form or fashion.”
