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To: steve who wrote (25703)	3/29/2004 12:36:53 AM
From: steve	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 26039

TSA to test 'registered traveler' program Kent Hoover Washington Bureau Chief March 29, 2004 The federal government plans to begin testing a "registered traveler" system in June that promises to speed frequent fliers through airport security. Individuals who pay a fee and allow the government to perform background checks on them would be subject to minimal screening. Biometric technology would be used to confirm these passengers' identities. The program is a "high priority for us," says Adm. David M. Stone, acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration. Stone told a congressional committee that TSA will conduct a 90-day pilot of the system at five airports -- Boston's Logan International, Washington Reagan National, Dallas Love Field, McGhee Tyson in Knoxville, Tenn., and West Palm Beach, Fla. -- and then evaluate the results. The registered traveler program would supplement -- not replace -- a computerized prescreening system the TSA is developing for all airline passengers, Stone says. TSA's surprise announcement pleased members of Congress and the airline industry, which has been pushing a "trusted traveler" program since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Business Travel Coalition Chairman Kevin Mitchell says the March 17 hearing convinced him Congress will tell TSA to drop its controversial Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS II) and concentrate on the registered traveler program instead. "I walked away thinking CAPPS II is dead," he says. Business travelers and civil libertarians have criticized TSA's plans to collect personal information on all air travelers and then assign them a risk score. Passengers whose identities are verified and who are not listed on any terrorist watch lists would be subject only to routine security. Passengers with question marks would be searched more intensively before boarding. Known terrorist threats would be turned over to law enforcement authorities. Stone says CAPPS II would dramatically reduce the number of airline passengers who now face extra scrutiny at airports. False positives costly to business But critics fear bad information in the CAPPS II databases could subject innocent passengers to delays and even detention. Passengers would find it hard to correct these errors and could be delayed every time they travel, critics say. This potential for missed flights is particularly troublesome for business travelers, who could be late for important meetings or have to pay expensive walk-up fares for other flights. "Who would pay for false-positive-related travel disruptions when a business traveler who consistently scores yellow for unknown and unresolved reasons consequently misses scheduled flights?" Mitchell asks. "The overall cost to a corporation from lost business opportunities could be considerable." If CAPPS II makes business travel more difficult, 60 percent of corporate travel managers say their companies would do more conference calls instead, according to a survey by the National Business Travel Association. Forty percent say they would cut back on out-of-town meetings. Travelers 'spooked' over privacy The NBTA survey also found that 47 percent of corporate travel managers are not sure their employees would be willing to provide additional personal information to TSA. Testing of CAPPS II has been delayed because airlines have refused to hand over individual passenger data to TSA until the agency issues a regulation mandating it. When Jet Blue released personal passenger records to a government contractor working on a possible CAPPS II prototype, travelers and privacy advocates were outraged. These privacy concerns also could limit the use of the registered traveler program, Mitchell says, particularly since airport security lines are much shorter than they used to be at most airports. "I don't know that there would be a lot of business travelers willing to shell out a couple of hundred of bucks to give the government this information," he says. "I think a lot of people have been spooked." (sidebar) Airline passenger prescreening • Passengers will provide their full name, home address, telephone number and date of birth when making reservations. • Commercial data aggregators will check this information and provide a score to TSA based on their confidence that passengers are who they say they are. • TSA will check government databases of possible terrorists and criminals with outstanding warrants. • Screening levels based on these checks will be encoded on passengers' boarding passes. • Low-risk passengers will board after routine screening. • Passengers with elevated or unknown risks will be subjected to additional screening. • Passengers identified as specific terrorist threats will be turned over to law enforcement. Source: Transportation Security Administration louisville.bizjournals.com steve