U.S. officials issued new security directives to all airlines operating flights into the United States, effective 4 January 2010

Following an alleged Christmas Day attempt to destroy a Northwest Airlines jet en route to Detroit from Amsterdam, . "Every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening," according to the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. "The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S.-bound international flights." According to USA Today, state sponsors of terrorism and other countries of interest, as defined by the U.S. government, are Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.