For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
MONTREAL—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today visited Montreal to participate in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Triennial Assembly and urge representatives from nearly 190 ICAO countries to approve an unprecedented joint Declaration on Aviation Security—following the joint declarations 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.”
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, the head of the U.S. delegation, and Transportation Security Administration Administrator John Pistole joined Secretary Napolitano—who is the first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security to participate in ICAO’s triennial meeting. ICAO, the United Nations’ body governing aviation, sets global aviation standards.
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 Dec. 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.
Since the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, Secretary Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security 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.
For more information, visit "/">www.dhs.gov.
###