Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is to step up US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Preclearance Operations at foreign airports.

 

At present there are 15 CBP air preclearance officers operating in six countries at Dublin and Shannon in Ireland; in Aruba; at Freetown and Nassau in the Bahamas; in Bermuda; at Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Winnipeg in Canada. Earlier this year, CBP also opened a preclearance facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport in the United Arab Emirates.

 

The CBP says that the benefits of preclearance have been substantial and last year its officers and overseas stations cleared over 16m passengers through these preclearance locations. At Abu Dhabi, CBP has so far this year processed approximately 290,000 passengers and crew, resulting in shortened lines at domestic airports such as JFK and Chicago O’Hare.

 

More significantly, CBP officers stationed in Abu Dhabi have refused the right to fly to the US to more than 450 persons, ‘including several individuals on the Terrorism Screening Database’. The CBP adds: “Also, by interdicting these persons on the ground at the foreign airport, we have saved the taxpayer huge amounts in detention and removal costs.”

 

 

The focus being placed on greater efficiencies at US airports is extremely welcome, along with the promotion [hopefully] of a much more friendly rapport between airport officials and the travelling public – while not at the expense of security considerations.

 

‘REDUCING WAITING TIMES FOR EVERYONE’

In a statement, Secretary Johnson commented: “As I have said many times since becoming Secretary, preclearance operations at foreign airports – where each traveller undergoes immigration, customs, and agriculture inspection by US Customs and Border Protection before boarding a direct flight to the United States – is a homeland security imperative.

 

“We should take every responsible opportunity we have to detect and intercept threats before they actually reach the homeland. The Christmas Day bombing attempt in 2009 showed us that terrorists may try to conduct attacks on US-bound airplanes even before they’ve landed here. Preclearance operations also facilitate lawful travel by reducing the number of passengers who need to clear customs at the largest US airports, which reduces wait times for everyone.

 

“At the Department of Homeland Security, we are pursuing a strategy to build preclearance operations at additional foreign airports. We have initiated a process for foreign airports and host governments to express an interest in preclearance operations and expect responses by the end of this month. We are focusing on key airports in Europe and Asia.

 

“We are also in productive conversations with CEOs of US airlines, who fully support promoting aviation security. Our goal is to begin formal negotiations for an additional set of pre-clearance airports in 2015.”

 

ALL IMAGES: Courtesy of US Department of Homeland Security.