U.S. Moves to Close Airline Security Gap

U.S. Homeland Security officials say they are working to close a security gap that would have allowed 24 British terror suspects into the country.

Security rules allow citizens from Britain and 27 other countries to fly to the United States without visas or background checks, and airlines don't send passenger data to the destination until the first 15 minutes of the flight. However, after an alleged plot was discovered to detonate bombs on planes traveling from Britain to the United States, Department of Homeland Security officials put in place temporary regulations requiring planes to share passenger data before taking off, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The department has pushed to make the regulations permanent, but the attempts have been blocked by concerns over flight delays and European privacy laws, the Times said.

"It's absolutely essential for aviation security for the U.S. government to have that information and match it against our watch lists in advance of departure," said Jay Ahern, chief of field operations at Customs and Border Protection.

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