"Post-9/11 checks for terrorist fliers still miss the mark"

Friday, August 6, 2004

Op/Ed
Post-9/11 checks for terrorist fliers still miss the mark
USA TODAY


One of the most glaring government lapses on 9/11 occurred when two of
the hijackers - Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Al-Midhar - were allowed to
board a Washington-to-Los Angeles flight even though both were on a
State Department terrorist watch list. The pair helped crash American
Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

The Federal Aviation Administration might have stopped them if it had
had access to the list's 60,000 known and suspected terrorists. But it
checked passengers only against its own "no-fly" list of a mere 12
suspects, the 9/11 Commission reported last month. The panel called the
FAA's meager list and the vast store of other intelligence it could not
tap an "astonishing mismatch."

More astonishing is that nearly three years later, air passengers are
still not checked against a full list of potential terrorists.

Nine agencies, including the FBI and State Department, maintain lists of
terrorists and suspects, and such watch lists are used, for example, to
screen foreigners who apply overseas for visas and visitors who enter
the country.

While the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which now
handles air safety, has expanded the "no-fly" list to more than 10,000
entries, it does not scrutinize every government list.

Among the reasons: 

   .Slow start. The government did not set up an office to pull together
the disparate lists and other terrorist information until late last
year. While the new Terrorist Screening Center now has a consolidated
list, the center's director told Congress last month that a database of
names accessible to an array of government agencies won't be available
until early next year.

   .Unwise focus. Since 2003, the TSA has misdirected its energies by
pushing to set up a flawed passenger-screening system that would have
snooped into the lives of all fliers to determine whether they pose a
terrorism risk. The plan, criticized by airlines, travelers and privacy
advocates for being too intrusive, was scrapped last month. The TSA
could have better spent the time figuring out how to access other
government watch lists to screen for suspected terrorists.

   .Misplaced duties. While the government has taken over passenger- and
baggage-screening chores from airlines, it has left to the industry the
sensitive task of checking passengers against TSA watch lists. Concerns
about sharing intelligence information with private companies keeps the
government from listing all the individuals who should be included, the
9/11 Commission found.

The Department of Homeland Security, the TSA's parent, notes that the
government's no-fly list has been expanded significantly, and it's
working to screen for passengers who appear on a centralized government
watch list.

A smarter step would be for the government to move faster to adopt the
9/11 Commission's recommendation that the TSA take over from the
airlines responsibility for checking for passengers on watch lists. The
change, which would let intelligence agencies share far more sensitive
information, shouldn't be delayed by debate over the next generation of
computer screening, the commission rightly said.

Four years before 9/11, a White House commission on aviation called on
the CIA and FBI to share their extensive watch-list information with
authorities securing the skies. It didn't happen.

The 9/11 hijackings were a deadly reminder of what the government still
needs to do.

Waiting for a second warning is not a tolerable option.


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