"ATA To White House: Security Proposal Unacceptable"

Thursday, May 10, 2007

ATA To White House: Security Proposal Unacceptable
By Jennifer Michels
Aviation Daily 


The Air Transport Association has informed the White House that it is
adamantly opposed to a unilateral decision by the Dept. of Homeland Security
(DHS) to force airlines to obtain biometric information on departing foreign
passengers.

The DHS has informed airlines, in a somewhat informal way, that they will
soon be required to collect biometric information on foreigners departing
the U.S. Under the US-VISIT program, DHS has been collecting the information
from foreigners for three years under a pilot program. They provide a
fingerprint upon entry to the country, which is read by a reader connected
to a DHS database, and thus far have been expected to voluntarily check
themselves out of the country through the same procedure as they go through
airport departure. 

In a May 8 letter to Frances Townsend, assistant to the president for
homeland security and counter terrorism, James May, ATA President and CEO of
ATA, says DHS is inexplicably attempting to saddle airlines with this
responsibility now, forcing them to do this at the check-in counter, in what
he says is an "unexplained departure from clear, unbroken legislative
policy."

"DHS has informed us that it has decided, without consultation with the
airline industry, to relieve itself of the responsibility of collecting
biometric information upon departure and, instead, to direct airlines to do
so. Airlines will have to draw upon their own limited resources at airports
-- e.g., customer service agents and check-in kiosks -- to perform this
unsought assignment," May says.

May told The DAILY this issue "is critical for us," and he believes the DHS
has "done a terrible job" of monitoring the program. U.S. airlines believe
these duties are a federal responsibility and were part of the reason the
Transportation Security Administration was formed.

Airlines also have a problem with it because they have spent significant
resources developing new electronic check-in procedures to reduce wait
times, such as through PDAs or cell phones. "Injecting an at-airport
physical process, which the DHS decision will do, into this customer-driven,
electronic environment will be a costly step backward for both passengers
and airlines."

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