President Barack Obama has signed off on new security protocols for people flying to the United States, establishing a system that uses intelligence information and assessment of threats to identify passengers who could have links to terrorism, a senior administration official said Thursday. The new approach will replace a broader layer of extra scrutiny that had been imposed recently on all passengers from 14 countries, most of which are Muslim. The change, which will be announced Friday by the Department of Homeland Security, is the result of a review of security at international airports ordered by Obama after the Christmas Day attempt to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit. The system, which will be put in place this month, applies only to travelers flying into the United States. The intelligence-based security system is devised to raise flags about travelers whose names do not appear on no-fly watch lists, but whose travel patterns or personal traits create suspicions. The system is intended to pick up fragments of information -- family name, nationality, age or even partial passport number -- and match them against intelligence reports to sound alarm bells before a passenger boards a plane. Officials said intelligence information from a variety of U.S. agencies would be made available to foreign airlines, whose employees and security officials would have wide latitude to stop passengers, or not. The system to be announced Friday replaces the mandatory screening -- including full-body pat downs -- that was hastily set up in January. Citizens of Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria have also been subjected to extra checks of their carry-on baggage before boarding planes for the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who will announce the new system, has traveled to several countries in recent months to enlist the cooperation of foreign airlines and governments. Currently, the only information typically checked before a passenger boards an airplane is the name, date of birth and nationality -- information found in a passport, which is compared against the terror watch lists. But the Homeland Security Department separately already collects much more information on the travel patterns of passengers headed to the United States, including other stops made on the way to an American airport, how the passenger paid for the ticket as well as other details contained in the reservation, like what hotel a passenger might be staying in, or if he or she is traveling alone. 