"G-8 OKs Tighter Security for Air Travel"

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

G-8 Leaders Approve Tighter Security for Air Travel, Quicker Exchange of
Passenger Information
The Associated Press
 

SAVANNAH, Georgia - Heightened airport security is here to stay, but
world leaders looking to better protect air travelers from terrorism
also say they want to let those who pose no threat pass more easily
through checks.

Leaders from the powerful Group of Eight nations, meeting on Sea Island,
Georgia, on Wednesday approved a 28-point plan to further strengthen
security while trying not to gum up travel with unnecessary and costly
screening.

Despite tougher security measures and better intelligence cooperation
implemented since the Sept. 11 attacks, the G-8 agreement says
"terrorist attacks against the transportation system remain a serious
threat."

The G-8 plan seeks quicker exchanges of information about passengers,
better protected flight decks, and controls on shoulder-fired missiles
that officials fear terrorists could use to shoot down commercial jets.

The G-8 groups together Italy, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada,
Russia and the United States all countries where air travel is a major
form of transport.

President Bush's counterterror chief, Frances Townsend, said the
proposals also aim to speed the flow of legitimate travelers. But she
said that heavy security will not disappear.

"We are never going to go back, but we can take some of the anxiety and
aggravation out of it, and that's exactly what we want to do here," she
said in an interview. "Security will always be first but there's got to
be a way to have those security measures as targeted as you possibly
can."

In the agreement, G-8 leaders pledged to respect privacy rules as they
seek better and faster information about travelers responding to critics
concerned that personal data may be misused.

France, for one, said that in future negotiations about security, it
would stay vigilant about how passenger data is used.

"France is among those countries that believe that the fight against
terrorism must be conducted with respect for the values of our
democracies," said Catherine Colonna, French President Jacques Chirac's
spokeswoman.

With better information, airport security officers are less likely to
stop passengers who are not a threat, Townsend said.

"If I have enough data on John Smith ... the likelihood of my stopping
the right John Smith and enabling all the wrong John Smiths in the world
to travel through is pretty good, and that's the reason to do this," she
said.

The agreement include plans to:

Develop methods where possible to exchange data about passengers in real
time, while fully respecting privacy rules.

Feed information into a database run by the Interpol international
police agency that will allow countries to share data on stolen and lost
travel documents.

Acclerate efforts to destroy excess and obsolete shoulder-fired
missiles. In 2002, terrorists fired two surface-to-air missiles that
barely missed an Israeli airliner taking off from Mombasa, Kenya.

Work together on improving methods to analyze information about
passengers, crew and cargo before they travel.

Expand research on biometric technologies that can identify passengers
from their retinas or other physical characteristics.

Cases of mistaken identity caused havoc with flights between France and
the United States last Christmas. The French government grounded flights
because the names of passengers sounded strikingly similar to those of
terrorist suspects provided by the FBI.

But instead of terrorists, one passenger was a 5-year-old, another was a
prominent Egyptian scientist, and others were reportedly an elderly
Chinese woman and a Welsh insurance agent.


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