Guard your flights, US orders world

Armed sky marshals will be placed on flights between Australia and the United States under an agreement expected to be signed early next year.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said in Canberra the Australian and US governments had been negotiating the issue for several months.

The move comes after Australia and Singapore finalised a deal on December 15 to place armed officers on flights between the two countries. The officers have been on random flights since Saturday.

Australia began posting armed undercover security officers randomly on domestic flights soon after the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.

The United States has ordered other governments to obey a new American requirement placing armed sky marshals on some flights to prevent hijackings, as the nation approached the New Year with terror threats high.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the US would enforce the armed guards requirement and also assured Americans concerned about holiday air travel that aviation in the United States since September 11, 2001 "has risen to new heights of security".

He encouraged Americans to continue with their holiday plans, even amid the orange alert level, or high alert status, put in place more than a week ago.

The orange alert would stay in effect through the holidays and possibly beyond, Mr Ridge said. Officials have not seen a reduction in air travel since the alert.

The new directive Mr Ridge outlined requires selected international flights that cross into US airspace to carry an armed law enforcement officer aboard. The Homeland Security Department required such officers on flights where intelligence information led to a specific concern about that plane, department spokesman Dennis Murphy said.

"We will then notify the carrier that, based on information we received, we require a law enforcement officer to be on the plane," Murphy said.

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