But in a departure from strict post-9/11 flight security, passengers will again be allowed to carry small scissors and tools, said Kip Hawley, assistant secretary in the Transportation Security Administration.
The new measures will be put in place at the country's 450 airports on December 22, when passengers could face additional searches after they pass through the metal detectors and have their carry-on baggage screened.
The searches 'will be generated at random' and take 'only about a minute to complete', allowing security officials 'to better screen passengers for explosives and other threats to the aviation system.'
The searches could include 'enhanced' bodily searches, screening of shoes for explosives and inspections of carry-on bags.
Hawley emphasized that the new strategy was intended to keep potential terrorists off balance and deny them any 'certainty' about 'what screening procedures they will encounter at airports around the nation'.
'By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals that wish to do us harm,' he said.
