Jean,
Any thoughts about setting up a "Trusted Student Program? Might get you a promotion to head teach ;-) You could model it after the TSA...
Posted on Wed, Mar. 17, 2004
U.S. to Test Program for Frequent Fliers
LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration wants to begin testing in June a program that would allow certain airline travelers not considered terrorist threats to avoid extra security inspections at airports, a federal official said Wednesday.
Under the "registered traveler program" passengers would pay a fee and submit to government background checks. If they are not found to be potential threats, they would avoid being randomly selected for the follow-up screening that some travelers face at checkpoints where carry-on bags pass through metal detectors.
David Stone, acting chief of the Transportation Security Administration, said the goal is to move law-abiding travelers more quickly to their planes and permit screeners to focus more on people about whom the government has less information.
"TSA believes in this," Stone told the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation. "It's a high priority."
The program is expected to be appealing mostly to frequent travelers who would think the cost would be offset by the time saved at airports.
Stone said testing would last 90 days. Among the airports being considered are Boston's Logan International Airport; Washington's Reagan National Airport; Dallas Love Field; McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tenn.; and West Palm Beach Airport in Florida.
The TSA is speaking to more than a dozen major airlines about the possibility of participating in the program, agency spokesman Mark Hatfield said.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said he's not sure people will embrace the registered traveler program because of privacy concerns.
"We are, as an organization, very much in favor of it," Mitchell said. "But I'm not sure there are a lot of business travelers willing to pay to turn over all that information."
James May, president of the Air Transport Association, said he was "surprised but pleased" by Stone's announcement.
"We've been pushing and pushing and pushing," said May, whose organization represents major U.S. airlines.
Stone said biometrics would be an essential element of the registered traveler program but declined to elaborate.
The General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm, has said many unanswered questions about the program remain, including: Who will be eligible? What level of background check will be needed? How much will it cost? What technology will be used?
May testified that the government should develop the registered traveler program before implementing computerized passenger screening that would use personal information to rank all air travelers based on their threat level.
But Stone said the TSA is forging ahead with the Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, or CAPPS II, which has been in development for two years. He said the agency will order airlines to turn over passenger records in the next couple of months so the TSA can conduct tests.
May said airlines might resist such an order because of concerns about the legality and liability of complying. The ATA set out seven privacy principles on Wednesday and said the airlines won't participate in the CAPPS II program unless they're followed.
The guidelines seek to ensure the TSA collects only personal information pertaining to aviation security, stores it securely and gets rid of it as soon as travel is completed. The ATA also said that passengers must be allowed to access their personal information and correct any errors.
A congressional auditor told the House panel that the TSA hasn't yet shown that it has established adequate procedures for safeguarding passengers' privacy.
"That can be done independently of testing," said Norman Rabkin, managing director for the Homeland Security and Justice Division of the General Accounting Office.
The government has said the system would check such information as names, addresses and birth dates against commercial and government databases to confirm a passenger's identity and determine whether he or she is on a terrorist watch list or a wanted violent criminal. Each passenger would be given one of three color-coded ratings.
Suspected terrorists and violent criminals would be designated as red and forbidden to fly. Passengers who raise questions would be classified as yellow and would receive extra security screening. The vast majority would be designated green and allowed through routine screening.
ON THE NET
Transportation Security Administration: tsa.gov
Air Transport Association: air-transport.org
Business Travel Coalition: btcweb.biz
sunherald.com
steve |
