The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Washington /Â AP
Congress passed an aviation bill last week that attempts to close gaps in airport security and shorten screening lines, but leaves thornier issues unresolved.
The bill also extends the Federal Aviation Administration’s programmes for 14 months at current funding levels. It was approved in the Senate by a vote of 89 to 4.
Responding to attacks by violent extremists associated with the Islamic State group on airports in Brussels and Istanbul, the bill includes an array of provisions aimed at protecting “soft targets†outside security perimeters.
Other provisions designed to address potential “insider threats†would toughen vetting of airport workers and other employees with access to secure areas, expand random employee inspections and require reviews of perimeter security. Investigators suspect a bomb had been smuggled aboard a Russian Metrojet airliner that disintegrated over Egypt last year.
The measure is the most significant airport security bill to pass Congress in a decade, and its provisions “speak directly to some of the gaps that we perceive to exist in our aviation system in this country,†said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.