By
Susan Stellin
Published: October 21, 201
The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of
passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array
of government and private databases that can include records like car
registrations and employment information.
Michael Stravato for The New York Times
While the agency says that the goal is to streamline the security
procedures for millions of passengers who pose no risk, the new measures
give the government greater authority to use travelers’ data for
domestic airport screenings. Previously that level of scrutiny applied
only to individuals entering the United States.
The prescreening, some of which is already taking place, is described in
documents the T.S.A. released to comply with government regulations
about the collection and use of individuals’ data, but the details of
the program have not been publicly announced.
It is unclear precisely what information the agency is relying upon to
make these risk assessments, given the extensive range of records it can
access, including tax identification number, past travel itineraries,
property records, physical characteristics, and law enforcement or
intelligence information.
The measures go beyond the background check the government has conducted
for years, called Secure Flight, in which a passenger’s name, gender
and date of birth are compared with terrorist watch lists. Now, the
search includes using a traveler’s passport number, which is already
used to screen people at the border, and other identifiers to access a
system of databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security.
Privacy groups contacted by The New York Times expressed concern over the security agency’s widening reach.
“I think the best way to look at it is as a pre-crime assessment every
time you fly,” said Edward Hasbrouck, a consultant to the Identity
Project, one of the groups that oppose the prescreening initiatives.
“The default will be the highest, most intrusive level of search, and
anything less will be conditioned on providing some additional
information in some fashion.”
The T.S.A., which has been criticized for a one-size-fits-all approach
to screening travelers, said the initiatives were needed to make the
procedures more targeted.
“Secure Flight has successfully used information provided to airlines to
identify and prevent known or suspected terrorists or other individuals
on no-fly lists from gaining access to airplanes or secure areas of
airports,” the security agency said in a statement. “Additional risk
assessments are used for those higher-risk passengers.”
An agency official discussed some aspects of the initiative on the
condition that she not be identified. She emphasized that the main goal
of the program was to identify low-risk travelers for lighter screening
at airport security checkpoints, adapting methods similar to those used
to flag suspicious people entering the United States.
Anyone who has never traveled outside the United States would not have a
passport number on file and would therefore not be subject to the rules
that the agency uses to determine risk, she said, although documents
indicate that the agency is prescreening all passengers in some fashion.
The official added that these rules consider things like an individual’s
travel itinerary, length of stay abroad and type of travel document,
like a passport. If an airline has a traveler’s passport number on file,
it is required to share that information with the T.S.A., even for a
domestic flight.
The agency also receives a code indicating a passenger is a member of
the airline’s frequent-flier program and has access to details about
past travel reservations, known as passenger name records. This official
could not confirm if that information was being used to assess a
passenger’s risk.
The effort comes as the agency is trying to increase participation in
its trusted traveler program, called PreCheck, that allows frequent
fliers to pass through security more quickly after submitting their
fingerprints and undergoing a criminal-background check.
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