Updates | The Week of March 20, 2017
Derek Reinbold // 3/26/17 //
NATIONAL SECURITY
America and Britain banned airplane passengers traveling from several Muslim-majority countries from bringing electronic devices larger than a cellphone on their flights (NYT) (WSJ) (WaPo).
- The U.S. ban applies to airports in eight Muslim-majority countries: Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
- U.S. officials began explaining the new rules to carriers Sunday (WaPo).
- A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fact sheet can be found here.
- Sean Spicer briefly addressed questions about the ban at a press conference.
- Familiar roll-out and credibility problems plague the Administration’s electronics ban on flights from certain Middle East airports, notes J. Dana Stuster (Lawfare).
- Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman suggest the electronics ban may aim to create an advantage for U.S. carriers rather than to increase traveler security (WaPo). Zaid Jilani of The Intercept agrees.
- Scholars and technologists have identified flaws in TSA's new policy (The Guardian).
- The Telegraph reports on the UK's adoption of a similar policy.
- Ryan Goodman discusses the new policy with former Obama Advisor Lisa Monaco (Just Security).
Ivanka Trump’s proposed White House role not only flouts ethical norms, but also poses a national security threat, argue Helen Klein Murillo and Susan Hennessey (WaPo).