'Trusted Traveler' Pass

R. A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Thu Jan 31 16:43:28 EST 2002


http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,4287,SB1012341813532435520,00.html




January 30, 2002
THE MIDDLE SEAT
By SCOTT MCCARTNEY
 
A 'Trusted Traveler' Pass May Be
In the Cards for Frequent Fliers
ABOUT SCOTT MCCARTNEY


Some day in the future, maybe a year from now, you may have a "trusted
traveler" card. Congress wants it, the airlines need it and security
experts endorse it.

The benefits appear clear. With a tool to separate the wheat from the
chaff, security forces can focus scrutiny on people who could be potential
threats. Travelers with a card could go through a security check about as
swiftly as they would have before Sept. 11.

The Air Transport Association, the airline's main trade group in
Washington, says these government-issued cards -- essentially domestic
passports -- would go only to people cleared by intelligence and security
agencies. Names would be checked against lists from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and the national Immigration
Service. (That's supposed to happen anyway in new computer-profiling
systems.) Presumably, this would be a coordinated effort: The U.S. would
check with other nations, and those nations would check with the U.S.
before issuing their own trusted traveler cards.

For business travelers, anything that will help avoid long lines and
invasive searches is welcome. (If you ever doubted the randomness of the
security checks these days, know that American Airlines employees recently
searched the wife of Chief Executive Donald Carty as he stood by.)

For airlines, speedier security is critical. Business travel, the key to
profits for carriers, is depressed by the recession. But the hassles of
travel have taken a toll, too. Out and back in one day? Not as easy as it
used to be. Is a sales call worth it if it takes two days? A rebound in
business travel relies on the economy and on airlines' ability to make
travel more productive.

"A trusted traveler card is absolutely essential for airlines. You simply
can't hassle business travelers," says Robert Crandall, the former chief of
American Airlines who has abandoned his retirement sailboat to champion
industry security issues.

Besides, business travelers love a two-tier system. They expect it when
renting a car, boarding a plane or getting first-class upgrades. Heck, if
you pay $2,000 instead of $200, you should get better service, right?

But is a trusted traveler card is a good idea? I don't think so.

The big problem is bad guys can get a card, just like good guys. A
terrorist could simply spend a year or two as a high-fare road warrior,
building up miles and trust.

One lesson we learned from World Trade Center attacks is that terrorists
will take whatever we give them. In all the rush to fix airport and airline
security, we often forget that the terrorists probably didn't break any
rules at airports on Sept. 11, nor did they do anything that should have
been caught by security screeners. The Federal Aviation Administration
allowed small knives on board airplanes. The attackers patiently invested
time and money in gaining the ability to fly planes.

They played by our rules. Why wouldn't they do the same to get a trusted
traveler card?

The airline industry contends it's a smarter form of security. "If we
learned anything from Sept. 11, it's that you have to focus on people, not
just checked bags and carry-ons," says Michael Wascom, spokesman for the
Air Transport Association. "Right now, everyone is treated as an equal
risk."

Maybe they should be. Consider Richard Reid, the man accused of attempting
to blow up an American Airlines jet with a bomb in his shoes. Mr. Reid had
no significant criminal history and wasn't on any terrorist watch lists.
American Airlines found him suspicious enough to turn him in to French
police the first time he tried to board a trans-Atlantic flight, and French
police cleared him to go.

Still, security experts say a two-tier system would allow stricter
screening of the population most likely to pose trouble. If a majority of
fliers have the card -- and those advocating it expect that an overwhelming
percentage of travelers will opt to carry the card -- then officials can
focus on a limited portion of passengers.

Cathal Flynn, former head of security for the FAA, says the criteria for
who gets a trusted traveler card should be set so high that someone like
Richard Reid couldn't get one, though it's unclear how someone with little
documented background could be excluded. "Government can say with high
confidence that you are not associated with terrorism," Mr. Flynn says.

Mr. Crandall, former chief of American Airlines, advocates a thorough
initial background check, updated annually, and a requirement for a Social
Security number. "There's a danger no matter what you do. You can't make
the system perfect," he says.

Already, libertarians and civil liberties experts have voiced opposition to
a trusted traveler card on privacy grounds, but it's not likely to provoke
a big debate. Unlike the proposed national I.D. card, the trusted traveler
card would be voluntary. You can certainly travel without one, just expect
to arrive at the airport earlier. Some people may not like turning over
lots of information to the government in order to get a trusted traveler
card, but it's basically information the government already has.

Frankly, to do it right may be an impossible task. The U.S. Department of
Transportation and newly created Transportation Security Agency are still
trying to run background checks on 600,000 airline employees. Doing so on
millions and millions of travelers, and updating cards annually, will be a
nightmare.

Before the travel industry sets the autopilot on a trusted traveler card,
we ought to think carefully about the risks.
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1012341813532435520.djm,00.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) mailto:scott.mccartney at wsj.com
(2) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB101197459910000000,00.html
(3) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1011177504881863160,00.html
(4) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1010963370344677280,00.html

Updated January 30, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST

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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'



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