NYC Bomb Suspect Triggers Tougher 'No-Fly' Rule

WASHINGTON (May 5) -- From an evil deed comes some good.

By slipping onto a Dubai-bound plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday night despite landing on the "no-fly" list, suspected would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad highlighted a major gap in airline security -- one that federal officials vowed today to close.

The Transportation Security Administration announced it will require airlines to check no-fly lists within two hours of being electronically notified of an urgent or "special circumstance expedited no-fly name," as was the case Monday. The previous policy called for airlines to check the list within 24 hours of getting such a notice.

"As we saw with Faisal Shahzad, in an expedited no-fly nomination the airline is responsible for manually checking the name against the no-fly list within 24 hours," an administration official said.

"In his case, the airline seemingly didn't check the name, and the suspect was allowed to purchase a ticket and obtain a boarding pass."

Shahzad has admitted to driving a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder to Times Square on Saturday and trying to detonate a crude bomb inside. He has waived his right to an attorney, and has been cooperating with authorities, telling them he had traveled to Pakistan to learn about bomb making. Investigators have been focusing on a possible link to the Taliban in Pakistan, sources familiar with the case said.

Shahzad was placed on the no-fly list around noon Monday. He arrived at JFK that day to travel on a one-way ticket he had purchased from the airline Emirates at the last minute, reportedly for $700 in cash.

The airline apparently had failed to update its no-fly list, and Shahzad was able to board the plane for the 11 p.m. flight. But his name was spotted on the no-fly list by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer, who got the wheels in motion to pull back the plane from the runway, authorities said. Shahzad was then arrested by FBI and New York police detectives.

"Due to the vigilance of CBP officers, working with all of our law enforcement partners and relying on enhanced DHS [Department of Homeland Security] measures, CBP was able to quickly identify, apprehend the suspect," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a press conference Tuesday.

Today Dubai-based Emirates issued a statement in response to Monday's incident:

"Emirates fully cooperated with and responded immediately to all local and federal authorities on all matters related to its flight EK 202 ... where a passenger was removed from the aircraft by U.S. law enforcement officials.

"Emirates is in full compliance with all passenger check-in procedures in the U.S. and works closely with both the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies to update security watch lists on a regular and timely basis."

Some federal law enforcement officials told AOL News that other things about Shahzad should have raised authorities' suspicions, including the fact that he bought a one-way ticket with cash at the last minute.

Currently, purchasing an airline ticket with cash will not automatically raise a red flag. As to what actions do, TSA said it does not provide details for "security reasons."

Today MSNBC reporter Andrea Mitchell asked Michael Chertoff, former head of the Department of Homeland Security, why the purchase of a ticket to Dubai with cash in itself did not raise a red flag.

"It's not necessarily, again, not necessarily a red flag," Chertoff said.

"Why isn't it?" Mitchell asked, to which Chertoff responded, "Because a lot of people pay cash for a lot of reasons, particularly, in global travel. In a lot of parts of the world, people don't have credit cards. So that, in and of itself, would not have necessarily caused him to be pulled."