"Program for Registered Fliers Slow To Expand"

Saturday, February 5, 2005

Program for Registered Fliers Slow To Expand
By Sara Kehaulani Goo
The Washington (DC) Post


Mark Senak was one of the first Washington area travelers to sign up for an
experimental security program last year at Reagan National Airport that
promised the ultimate airport perk: no waiting in line at the security
checkpoint. Senak was among 2,000 American Airlines frequent fliers invited
to join the "registered traveler" test program in exchange for submitting to
digital fingerprinting, an iris scan and a background check. 

But the program -- in its fifth month at National and one of the most
popular ideas initiated by the Transportation Security Administration -- has
been of little value to him. 
 
So far, only five airports participate, with just one airline at each
location, for a total membership of 9,000 travelers. This month, the agency
plans to expand the program to one more airport -- Orlando International.
TSA officials would not say how many new travelers would be able to join
this year, or when. With only a few airlines and airports participating,
travelers often can use the high-tech kiosks only for one leg of a trip. 

The wide expansion envisioned when the program was proposed in 2002 has been
slow in coming as the Department of Homeland Security has had difficulty
resolving policy questions and technological hurdles. 

"I'd recommend registered traveler [to others] if it were broader and
seemingly more reliable," said Senak, noting that one of the three times he
tried to use the machine that reads fingerprints and iris scans of
registered travelers, it was broken. 

For now, the TSA has a modest goal: upgrading the technology at the five
airports already testing the program so each location can communicate with
the others. That would mean that registered travelers flying through
National, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles or Houston would be cleared
through security at all those airports. 

"One of the key objectives we have in '05 is to establish interoperability,"
said Justin Oberman, the assistant administrator of the TSA's transportation
vetting and credentialing. 

Airport and airline groups, which support the registered traveler program
and are eager for the TSA to move ahead, said they would like the agency to
act quickly to develop technological standards. Airports would like the
system to work like EZ Pass systems, which allow drivers to bypass long toll
lines with a special card. The EZ Pass systems are operated by state
agencies in partnership with companies that provide the technology, a model
that the airports would like to emulate. DHS has estimated that passengers
would pay $50 to $100 a year to become a registered traveler. 

"Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later," said Christopher R.
Bidwell, managing director of security at the Air Transport Association, the
airline lobbying organization. The program's small size "is a big
limitation. Clearly if we looked at any sort of privatized program where our
passengers would make an investment up to $50 annually, they're going to
want to reap the full benefit, which is to use any participating airport." 

The program's lack of momentum stems partly from its large ambitions. Some
officials initially had talked about integrating the registered traveler
program into the other high-tech travel programs of the Department of
Homeland Security that require visitors to submit digital fingerprints,
photographs and other personal information. Those include a program that
incorporates facial recognition systems into passports and another that
collects digital fingerprints and photographs of foreign visitors. But
airline industry sources said those plans are unclear as a new department
secretary is set to take over, possibly bringing with him new ideas. 

"There's a question of who's picking up for the leadership that has left,"
said an aviation industry source, who does business with the department and
so spoke on condition of anonymity. Asa Hutchinson, who left his post as the
undersecretary of border and transportation security, was the driving force
behind the integration of all traveler identification programs. "It was
really Asa's baby," the source said. 

Two companies that won initial contracts to operate the high-tech kiosks at
the five airports, Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) and Unisys Corp.,
said agency officials told them they intend to integrate the registered
traveler program's technologies with the other DHS programs, but agency
officials have not said how. The companies received a $5 million contract
extension earlier this month to continue operating the program through the
end of September. 
 
"I don't think they want this to be a one-off program that does not take
into consideration the integration with other programs," said Larry Zmuda, a
partner of Unisys's homeland security group that is overseeing the company's
registered traveler program at Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Houston. 

EDS manages the program at National and Boston's Logan International
Airport, which partner with American Airlines. Unisys and EDS said that they
have a high rate of accuracy in identifying their members using the
technology and that the program has been a success. 

The TSA also has not resolved whether it or its contractors would maintain
the database of trusted travelers. TSA officials said they would conduct the
background check. But other companies, such as Verified Identity Pass Inc.,
headed by American Lawyer magazine founder Steven Brill, propose to conduct
a preliminary identity check on each applicant and maintain the passenger
database in hopes of linking it to other government programs or to other
companies. 

The TSA's Oberman said the experiment at Orlando, which is expected to
partner with Brill's company, will explore how a privately run system might
work. 

Some registered travelers said they hope the TSA can work out the kinks in
the technology used to capture fingerprints and iris scans. Physician
William Robertson said the kiosk for registered travelers at National
Airport did not recognize him one of the three times he used it. "I would
not pay for it," he said, given its unreliability. 

Luckily, he said, "the woman who registered me [for the program] was there.
She said, 'I know you,' " and let him through anyway.


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