WASHINGTON, April 5, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The United States announced new security measures on April 2 to replace the mandatory screening of air travelers from 14 countries that had angered some allies when it was imposed after a failed bombing on Christmas Day.

The measures, designed to significantly reduce the number of passengers pulled aside for additional screening and not be based on nationality or passport, but on characteristics pulled together by intelligence agencies, came into force on April 4.

Two explosions that hit the Moscow subway system on March 29 spurred acceleration of introduction of new airline security measures.  

The new policy affects all travelers coming into the United States from abroad. The measures in force since January required that passengers traveling to the United States from 14 countries be subjected to especially rigorous pre-flight screening.  The U.S. government implemented those security measures after the Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight to Detroit from Amsterdam on December 25.

In the meantime, security measures were stepped up in the Washington subway following March 29 twin blasts in the Moscow metro, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said in a statement, according to Russia’s new agency RIA Novsoti.  Enhanced security measures are likely to continue until at least mid-April.