--- title: Trump Administration Considering Broader Airplane Laptop Ban description: John Kelly said that he was considering banning laptops on all international flights to and from the United States in wake of terror threats canonical: https://time.com/4796928/trump-administration-considering-laptop-ban-on-all-international-flights/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-28T17:17:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:09:04.947Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Administration Considering Laptop Ban on All International Flights og:description: "There’s a real threat" og:url: https://time.com/4796928/trump-administration-considering-laptop-ban-on-all-international-flights/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6d4a645687204bb/6988bb23fb4eac38a8890d6f/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Germany Security Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Administration Considering Laptop Ban on All International Flights twitter:description: "There’s a real threat" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6d4a645687204bb/6988bb23fb4eac38a8890d6f/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Administration Considering Laptop Ban on All International Flights > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=cdc1e553-96c9-4d23-99a4-52b4a7addaab&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 28, 2017 5:17 PM UTC  US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly speaks during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 18, 2017. US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly speaks during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 18, 2017. Matthias Schrader—AP  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 28, 2017 5:17 PM UTC [Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly ](http://time.com/4796868/john-kelly-defends-jared-kushner-russia/)said Sunday that he was considering banning laptops on all international flights to and from the United States, an expansion of the policy his department implemented several months ago in response to terror threats. “There’s a real threat,” Kelly said on [_Fox News Sunday._](http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2017/05/28/sec-john-kelly-on-manchester-investigation-keeping-america-safe.html) _“_ That’s really the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it’s a U.S. carrier, particularly if it’s full of mostly U.S. folks, people. It’s real.” The DHS [announced March 21 ](http://time.com/4710605/us-gadgets-airplane-cabin-crackdown/?iid=sr-link8)that it was banning all gadgets larger than a smartphone, including laptops and iPads, on direct flights between the United States and 10 international airports in the Middle East and Africa. Kelly did not provide a timeline for when a decision could happen. “There’s new technologies down the road, not too far down the road that we will rely on. But it is a real sophisticated threat and I will reserve that decision until we see where it’s going,” he said. Kelly was also asked about the intelligence information that was leaked to American media outlets in the wake of the bombing in Manchester, England — [infuriating authorities](http://time.com/4793702/manchester-attack-investigation-us-leaks/?iid=sr-link1) in the United Kingdom, including Prime Minister Theresa May, who said she was planning to confront President Trump about the issue. “It’s outrageous. I don’t know why people do it. It jeopardizes not only investigations, it puts people’s lives in jeopardy,” Kelly said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4796928/trump-administration-considering-laptop-ban-on-all-international-flights/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4796928/trump-administration-considering-laptop-ban-on-all-international-flights/"},"headline":"Trump Administration Considering Laptop Ban on All International Flights","datePublished":"2017-05-28T17:17:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:09:04.947Z","description":"\"There’s a real threat\"","url":"https://time.com/4796928/trump-administration-considering-laptop-ban-on-all-international-flights/","keywords":["Aviation","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6d4a645687204bb/6988bb23fb4eac38a8890d6f/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6d4a645687204bb/6988bb23fb4eac38a8890d6f/john-kelly.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Germany Security Conference","caption":"Germany Security Conference","creditText":"Matthias Schrader—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4796928/trump-administration-considering-laptop-ban-on-all-international-flights/","name":"Trump Administration Considering Laptop Ban on All International Flights"}}]}] ```