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Canada, Mexico promise to tighten airport security
From Jeanne Meserve
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Mexico and Canada have promised to tighten security at their airports in response to information that terrorists plan to hijack international flights from these countries to target the United States. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Friday that both countries "promised action." "We are confident they are taking this threat seriously," Ridge said. The Homeland Security Department issued an advisory this week which said al Qaeda plans to hijack airliners traveling between international cities as the planes fly near or over the continental United States. (Full story) An official with Homeland Security said about 350 flights a day fit that description, including commercial, military and charter aircraft. "Nearly all" of them are Canadian, he said. Ridge called his counterparts in Canada and Mexico this week to discuss the threat and remind them of the need for enhanced security measures, including the screening of passengers boarding flights flying in or near U.S. airspace, the official said. "They promised action," he said. "We are confident they are taking this threat seriously." The official said that closer monitoring is being done of aircraft flying in and around U.S. airspace, and perimeter security at airports in Canada has been stepped up. If a threat warrants it, he said, the United States can gain access to the passenger manifests of flights flying over the United States. Elsewhere, officials at Los Angeles International Airport said they stepped up security the Friday before Labor Day and will keep the current level through September 11. The move was a local airport decision, made before the latest DHS advisory, they said. Increased security measures include monitoring of traffic coming into the airport, some spot inspections of vehicles, and a larger police presence in the ticketing lobbies and baggage claim areas. Even though the national color-coded threat advisory system remains at yellow, to represent an elevated risk of terrorism, one official at the Los Angeles airport said, "We look like we are on orange." Orange represents a high risk of terrorism. Homeland Security officials indicate they have no plans to raise the national level to orange because there is no information pointing to a specific threat.
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