Addresses ICAO Triennial Meeting

In remarks during the ICAO Triennial Assembly currently underway in Montreal, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano urged representatives from nearly 190 ICAO countries to approve an unprecedented joint Declaration on Aviation Security. She based her remarks on the joint declarations which have been negotiated at the regional aviation security summits the Secretary has attended in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere over the past nine months.

“The United States applauds the ICAO’s unprecedented focus on enhancing international aviation security,” said Secretary Napolitano. “Working together, the international community is forging a historic new foundation for aviation security that will better protect the entire global aviation system from evolving terrorist threats.”

In Montreal, Secretary Napolitano met with her counterparts from around the world to discuss the path forward on key aviation measures under consideration to strengthen the global aviation system—including the unprecedented joint Declaration on Aviation Security—which reflects the historic campaign, launched following the attempted terrorist attack on December 25, 2009, to bolster worldwide aviation security standards. She also underscored the United States’ support of the ICAO Comprehensive Aviation Security Strategy—a robust, comprehensive security framework that will establish a strong global aviation security strategy in the years ahead.

Secretary Napolitano

Since the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas day last year, Secretary Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security say they have taken concrete steps to bolster security at airports across the United States—deploying law enforcement personnel, behavior detection officers, air marshals, and explosives detection canine teams; expediting the deployment of new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units to help detect metallic and non-metallic explosives; and implementing new, enhanced security measures for all air carriers with international flights to the United States.

DHS also fulfilled a key 9/11 Commission recommendation in June 2010 by implementing Secure Flight for 100 percent of passengers flying domestically and internationally on U.S. airlines, meaning that the Transportation Security Administration, not the air carriers, vets passengers against government watchlists before a boarding pass is issued.

FMI: www.dhs.gov