"Traveler Screening Program Is Criticized"

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Traveler Screening Program Is Criticized
GAO Says Homeland Security Department Is Breaking Privacy Laws In Travel
Screening Program
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON, - The Homeland Security Department is breaking the law by not
telling the public exactly how personal information is used to screen
international travelers, including Americans, congressional investigators
said Wednesday.

One of the screening programs at issue is a computer-based system called the
Automated Targeting System that is used by the Customs and Border Protection
agency to rate the risk posed by travelers coming to and from the United
States.

In its report, the Government Accountability Office said the department is
not in full compliance with privacy laws that require agencies to tell the
public how the government uses their personal information.

"CBP's current disclosures do not fully inform the public about all of its
systems for prescreening aviation passenger information," the GAO report
said. "Nor do they explain how CBP combines data in the prescreening
process, as required by law."

The GAO, Congress' auditing agency, also said Customs has not publicly
disclosed all the sources of data it reviews on passengers, including
information obtained from commercial sources. It did not explain what those
commercial sources may be and government officials declined to comment.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke defended the program.

"The GAO in this case is woefully uninformed and I think that Congress and
the public are being poorly served by this report," Knocke said. This
program, he added, "has been the subject of more than 20 speeches or
testimonies at hearings."

Except for two footnotes to documents sent to Congress, however, the
administration's public references primarily described the system as a cargo
and passenger screening system without details of its operations. Many
officials were only aware of the cargo aspect of the screening system until
last fall.

The other prescreening process about which the GAO expressed disclosure
concerns was the Advance Passenger Information System, APIS, which uses
information derived from passports or other government-issued documents such
as visas.

The Associated Press disclosed late last year that the Automated Targeting
System used by Customs had been developing risk assessments of millions of
Americans over the last four years without their knowledge. The AP also
reported that those assessments were to be kept for 40 years and could be
shared with state, local and foreign governments.

The ATS program compares passenger data, such as a passenger's name,
address, credit card information and data from government databases, such a
terrorist screening database, with a set of rules derived from the
government's knowledge of terrorist and criminals.

Government officials have declined to detail those rules, for security
reasons. But the comparison results in a risk assessment, which can prevent
someone for boarding a plane or require additional screening measures at the
airport.

While the GAO found that Customs has disclosed aspects of the program, it
said the agency has failed to publish a "system of records notice or a
privacy impact assessment that comprehensively describes the entire
prescreening process."

On the Net:

Government Accountability Office: http://www.gao.gov

Customs and Border Protection: http://www.cbp.gov

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