The Department of Homeland Security announced on Friday that it was implementing a number of security measures, some of them secret, following the mysterious explosion and crash of a Russian passenger flight in Egypt’s Sinai region, according to directives issued by DHS.
The security measures will target commercial flights bound for the United States "from certain foreign airports in the region," according to a statement issued by DHS.
The tightened security measures come following the crash earlier this week of a Russian passenger jet over Egypt. U.S. intelligence officials suspect the flight may have been brought down by a bomb, or other explosive, planted by the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
DHS is moving forward with a number of security measures that could impact foreign flights in the region due to lingering security concerns.
These include: "expanded screening applied to items on aircraft, airport assessments in conjunction with our international partners, and offers of other assistance to certain foreign airports related to aviation and airport security, as well as additional measures, both seen and unseen," according to DHS.
Only "certain foreign airports" in the Middle East will be impacted by these security measures, DHS said.
Secretary Jeh Johnson, the head of DHS, said the new measures have been created "out of an abundance of caution."
"While there are no direct commercial air flights from Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, to the United States, these enhancements are designed to provide an additional layer of security for the traveling public, and will be undertaken in consultation with relevant foreign governments and relevant passenger and cargo airlines," Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson would not detail specifics about the security measures.
"While we cannot discuss the full details of our aviation security measures, or the enhancements noted today, I want to assure the traveling public that the Department of Homeland Security is working closely with our domestic and international partners to evaluate the cause of the crash of Flight 9268, and will continue to take appropriate precautionary security measures," he said.