The US has announced that it will begin profiling US-bound passengers to determine who should get extra screening.
Travelers will be picked out according to how closely they match intelligence on potential terrorist threats.
The new screening strategy results from a review ordered by President Obama.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the new measures would use "real-time, threat-based intelligence along with multiple, random layers of security, both seen and unseen, to more effectively mitigate evolving terrorist threats."
An administration official told the New York Times the new strategy would more surgically target those individuals they were concerned about and had intelligence for.
"This is not a system that can be called profiling in the traditional sense. It is intelligence-based," said the official.
Passengers were told to expect increased use of explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, sniffer dogs and pat downs.
The measures will apply to US citizens, as well as foreigners travelling to America.
The US government currently has a 6,000-name "no fly" list of suspected terrorists, who are banned from flights to or within US territory.
This will be supplemented by cross-referenced information that may see passengers subject to further screening even if their names are not flagged, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The screening will take into account characteristics like nationality, age, recently visited countries, and partial names, the newspaper said.
While the US does not have the authority to screen passengers in foreign airports, it can sanction air carriers if they do not agree to follow US guidelines for international aviation security.
A 23-year-old Nigerian man - Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - has been charged with attempting to destroy a plane after he allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on a passenger jet arriving in the US on 25 December 2009.
Abdulmutallab was overpowered by passengers and crew shortly before the Northwest Airlines plane landed in Detroit from Amsterdam.
In the wake of that incident new rules were instated requiring extra screening for passengers from, or traveling through Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
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