ARTICLE
Feds Developing Airline Passenger Background Screening Program

Flying in the near future? If the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has its way, it could be the last time that only your bags get checked at the airport.

In an effort to beef up airport security, the TSA has unveiled a program that will check two million airline passengers a day against a centralized terrorist watch list beginning in early 2006. The plan, called Secure Flight, replaces a highly controversial proposal known as CAPPS II that was criticized by members of Congress and privacy advocates for its intent to profile and color-code passengers.

Secure Flight also will replace the current airline passenger screening system, CAPPS, which is administered by the airlines. Widely considered ineffective, CAPPS is used to flag certain passengers for additional screening based on behaviors such as buying a one-way ticket or paying in cash.

Rather than leave the screening in the hands of the airlines, Congress now wants the TSA to administer the program so watch lists can be expanded without fear that terrorists might obtain a copy.

Under Secure Flight, airlines will forward passenger lists to the government. The TSA will then determine whether passengers should be singled out for extra scrutiny or even arrested by checking passenger names against a centralized terrorist watch list.

The program will use the Terrorist Screening Center's watch list, which is housed at the FBI and contains over 120,000 names. The TSA may also select several commercial databases to complement this list.

Due to continued scrutiny of Secure Flight by the Government Accountability Office and recent budget cuts, an exact implementation date for the program is still unknown.

(Source: http://www.tsa.gov and http://www.wired.com)