EU travellers face tougher US flight security

TAPESCRIPT 6

AM - Thursday, 17 January, 2008 08:08:00

Reporter: Raphael Epstein

TONY EASTLEY: People travelling to America from Europe will soon face tougher security checks because the US says Europe has become the major source of terrorism.

The warning from the top US counter terrorism official comes as details emerge of a renewed al-Qaeda internet presence in Britain.

Europe correspondent, Rafael Epstein reports.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Fly to the US from the Middle East and even with a visa you could face weeks of security checks.

But if you fly there with a European passport, under the visa waiver program the first time the US gets to check up on you when you land at the airport.

Now European visitors may have to fill in on-line forms before they head to the United States. As Michael Chertoff, head of the US Department of Homeland Security t old the BBC.

MICHAEL CHERTOFF: We've watched the rise of home-grown terrorism. We are obviously mindful of the Madrid bombings, the attempted bombings in Germany, the aeroplane plot of 2006.

And that suggests to us that the terrorists are increasingly looking to Europe both as a target and as a platform
RAFAEL EPSTEIN: On the same day, full details emerged of the sort of person that worries US officials.

Operating out of a small flat in West London, Moroccan born Younes Tsouli spent years becoming one of the internet's most prolific supporters of violent Islamism.

Using the online name of Irhabi 007 or Terrorist 007, he published manuals on topics like car bomb design, he hosted chat rooms for people in Europe, the US and Bosnia, who said they wanted to launch attacks, and he helped al-Qaeda in Iraq to distribute their internet videos to a wider audience.

Scotland Yard's counter terrorism chief Peter Yates.
PETER YATES: He, I think it's not unreasonable to say, provided a link between core al-Qaeda, the heart of al-Qaeda and the wider networks that he was linking into through the internet.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: While Terrorist 007 was sentenced for helping a fully-fledged al-Qaeda network, British officials are now concerned about a posting on a website herethat talked about establishing a much less formalised Al-Qaeda in the UK.

Officials say they've been looking into activity on a password protected internet site that urged young Muslims in Britain to kill political leaders, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown

As Dr Peter Neumann from Kings College in London explained to the BBC.

PETER NEUMANN: It was certainly published on a website that has some credibility amongst jihadists. At the same time, a lot of these statements are aspirational. It doesn't mean, I think, that there is an actual structure in place. That there are cells operating in this country - that would surprise me very much.

RAFAEL EPSTEIN: Analysts say the posting could have been the equivalent of simple psychological warfare, a sign of al-Qaeda's waning influence or a sign of its future intent.

Дата добавления: 2015-03-29