Interesting news from the Department of Homeland Security (for a change), as background checks of foreign airline pilots and truckers licensed to carry hazardous materials have turned up 38 people with connections to terrorists: U.S. Finds Truckers, Pilots Tied to Terror.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, said the agency reviewed the backgrounds of all 450,000 foreign crew members that flew into the country since March and identified nine pilots with potential ties to terrorists.

The Federal Aviation Administration has barred all nine from flying into the country, he said. He declined to provide any individual information about the nine or to describe their links to terrorists.

Two additional flight crew members were found to have fraudulent passports and another had a criminal record of assault on a law enforcement officer. They are not permitted to fly in the United States, Homeland Security spokesman Dennis Murphy said.

Since 2002, a handful of other foreign pilots were barred from flying into the United States because of alleged terrorist connections. Hutchinson said the latest background checks were more thorough than those that turned up those pilots.

“This reflects a new capability of the Department of Homeland Security,” Hutchinson said.

Homeland Security also looked into the backgrounds of 2.7 million truck drivers licensed to carry hazardous materials, Murphy said. Of those, 29 had possible relationships with terrorist organizations and are being investigated further, he said.