US to Call for Increased Security at Foreign Airports, Officials Say

— -- The Department of Homeland Security is expected to call as soon as tomorrow for heightened security measures at strategic foreign airports that have direct flights to the U.S., aviation and government officials told ABC News, in the wake of the Russian airline tragedy.

In addition to the requests to be made of last point of departure (LPD) airports, other security measures being discussed include more diligent baggage screening at major domestic U.S. airports -- to also potentially include matching of luggage to manifest lists before takeoff.

"What the Department of Homeland Security is looking at is beefing up all these screening procedures at the last points of departure, which would be overseas into the United States -- the last chance, if you will, to catch something like a bomb put on an airplane," Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told ABC News.

McCaul said that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is also considering working with foreign governments to increase security at strategic internal airports that do not fly directly to the U.S., like the Egyptian airport Sharm el-Sheikh, from which the doomed Russian flight took off.

Today President Obama appeared to make reference to airport security when he said that he thought there was a “possibility” that a bomb may have brought down the Russian airliner this weekend in Egypt, killing more than 200 people.

“We know that the procedures we have here in the United States are different than some of the procedures that exist for inbound and outbound flights there,” Obama told CBS News affiliate KIRO Radio.

[This report was updated Nov. 6, 2015.]