travelnews: Airline Security

[Carolyn Wooley <cwooley@oregon.uoregon.edu>]

DELTA TO TEST NEW AIR SECURITY PLAN 

Delta Air Lines will begin testing a new government plan for air security
this month that will check background information and assign a threat
level to everyone who buys a ticket for a commercial flight. Delta will
try it out at three undisclosed airports. A comprehensive system, which
will check such things as credit reports and bank account activity and
compare passenger names with those on government watch lists, is to be
developed by defense contractor Lockheed-Martin and could be in place by
the end of the year.  

The Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System II or "CAPPS II," as
it is known, is an automated screening system authorized by Congress in
the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  CAPPS II will collect data
and rate each passenger's risk potential according to a three-color
system:  green, yellow, red. When travelers check in, their names will be
punched into the system and their boarding passes encrypted with the
ranking. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners will check
the passes at checkpoints. The vast majority of passengers will be rated
green and won't be subjected to anything more than normal checks, while
yellow will get extra screening and red won't fly.  Unlike the current
system, in which data stays with the airlines' reservation systems, the
new system will be managed by TSA, and only government officials with
proper security clearance will be able to use it.

As a resource management tool, government officials say CAPPS II will help
the TSA direct limited on-site screening resources where they are most
needed. Transportation officials say CAPPS II is being designed with the
utmost concern for the individual privacy rights of American citizens.
They say CAPPS II will use databases that already operate in line with
privacy laws and won't profile based on race, religion or ethnicity. Civil
liberties groups and activists are objecting to the plan, however, seeing
the potential for unconstitutional invasions of privacy and for database
mix-ups that could lead to innocent people being branded security risks.
   
"CAPPS II is being designed to serve our national security without
sacrificing individual privacy.  Concerns about privacy are
understandable.  As we address such concerns, we believe that the public
will come to have a higher comfort level in air travel," said TSA Director
Admiral James Loy.  



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