"Law Lets Passengers Appeal No-Fly List"

Saturday, December 18, 2004 

Law Lets Passengers Appeal No-Fly List
TSA Required to Improve Watch Lists; Screening Program Set for January Test
By Sara Kehaulani Goo
The Washington (DC) Post


Passengers will have a way to appeal if their name turns up on the
government's no-fly list, under provisions of the intelligence bill signed
into law yesterday. 

The law requires the Transportation Security Administration to create a
system for travelers to correct inaccurate information that has landed them
on the no-fly list. It also directs the Department of Homeland Security to
create a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board to ensure that
anti-terrorist government actions do not infringe on people's rights. 
 
The provisions, among several airline security improvements in the bill,
follow a series of embarrassing incidents in which hundreds of private
citizens and some members of Congress were initially denied boarding because
their names were flagged by a TSA computer security system that maintains
the government's watch lists. 

"People around the country are complaining about being on the list," said
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who has been stopped dozens of times because his
name is confused with another on the TSA's secret no-fly list. Lewis has
contacted the TSA to resolve the problem, but he said he still gets singled
out occasionally. Lewis said he hoped the new law would help. "I thought
[the situation] had improved until a few days ago," he said, when he flew
from Atlanta to Florida and got snagged in the system. 

The law requires the TSA to improve the watch lists, and it outlines a new
schedule for developing a much-delayed computer passenger prescreening
system known as Secure Flight. Congress directs the TSA to begin testing the
new system by Jan. 1 and requires airlines to begin regularly turning over
passenger records 180 days after the testing is complete. The law also
requires that the system safeguard passengers' privacy. 

It also directs the TSA to ban butane lighters in carry-on bags. Such
lighters and matches are currently allowed on board, to the dismay of
Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.). 

The airline security provisions also direct the TSA to act on security
technologies that have been available for years but have yet to become
common at U.S. airports. Congress directs the agency to begin deploying more
"sniffers" that can detect explosive residue on travelers' clothing, and it
calls for several studies and test programs, including one to evaluate
blast-resistant airline cargo containers. 

Several members of Congress pushed for wider use of biometric technology,
such as digital fingerprinting equipment that is already in place for
foreign travelers at U.S. airports. Congress also sought broader
implementation of eye-scanning machines being tested with frequent fliers at
Reagan National Airport. The law calls for the TSA by April 2005 to develop
a biometric standard, which could be adopted by other government agencies. 

"Until TSA and Homeland Security adopt a biometric standard, almost every
other agency at the federal, state and local level is left at bay," said
Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure's aviation subcommittee. He called it one of the most
important provisions in the bill. The measure was intended to prod the TSA
and the department, he said, which "have sort of dragged their feet." 

A Department of Homeland Security spokesman said the agency is reviewing the
law.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************