"U.S. Ready to Launch ID Program"

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

U.S. Ready to Launch ID Program


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government is ready to begin a prototype
identification program for transportation workers that also could allow air
travelers to quickly pass through security checks.

Transportation Security Administration chief James Loy said Tuesday that the
program would issue identification cards to workers in ports and airports.
Loy said the pilot project will begin at Los Angeles International Airport,
Philadelphia International Airport and the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and
Wilmington, Del.

``We want to establish those prototypes almost immediately,'' Loy said.

Loy said the ID card technology would form the basis for what he calls a
``registered traveler program.''

He recently told the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee that
people who register for the program would have to submit to detailed
background checks.

``We will know more about them from a security standpoint than anonymous
passengers who present themselves to our screeners at the airport,'' he
said.

The program would ease congestion at security checkpoints and reduce
security hassles for registered travelers, he said.

``This is great news for passengers,'' said David Stempler, president of the
Air Travelers Association, a passenger advocacy group. ``Anything that will
speed passengers through airport processing is something that's going to get
airline passengers back on the planes again.''

But Paul Hudson, executive director of the advocacy group Aviation Consumer
Action Project, said Mohammed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11
hijackers, could have become a registered traveler. So could Timothy
McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, and Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber.

Hudson said he supports identification cards for transportation workers, who
number in the hundreds of thousands, but not travelers, who number in the
billions.

``There's really no way to prevent smart terrorists from getting these smart
cards if it's opened up to the public,'' Hudson said. ``Identity theft and
false IDs are a way of life for almost all smart terrorists and criminals.''

Robert Johnson, TSA spokesman, said the ID cards would be used in
conjunction with an improved passenger screening system that would flag
suspicious people before they get on a plane. The current system, called
CAPPS for Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, collects
information about passengers' travel history from the airlines.

``We don't intend to willingly issue those kinds of cards to those kinds of
people, ever,'' Johnson said.

The program can't get under way until Congress gives the TSA the go-ahead,
Johnson said. The Senate Appropriations Committee has held up the program
because of concerns that the TSA might choose a technology for the card
that's inefficient or too expensive, he said.

``We can begin almost immediately on a project like that once we answer the
concerns of Congress,'' Johnson said.

Congress could approve the program by the end of the year.


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