TSA Chief Suspends Traveler Registry Plans (going thru comprehensive audit)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/9/06 | Leslie Miller - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - Security concerns have caused the government to suspend plans for an ambitious program to check every domestic airline passenger's name against government watch lists.

Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley told the Senate Commerce Committee Thursday that he has directed that the program's information technology system "go through a comprehensive audit."

Hawley did not say whether any security flaws or breaches had been discovered.

"We don't believe any passenger information has been compromised," Amy von Walter, spokeswoman for TSA, told reporters.

The program called Secure Flight has been troubled from the start.

It is strongly opposed by civil libertarians who fear the program would grow into a massive domestic surveillance system in which the government tracks people whenever they travel.

Nearly four years and $200 million after the program was put into operation, Hawley said last month that the agency hadn't yet determined precisely how the it would work.

Government auditors gave the project failing grades — twice — and rebuked its authors for secretly obtaining personal information about airline passengers.

Currently, airlines check the names of passengers against watch lists that the government gives them. Under Secure Flight the government would take over from the airlines the task of checking names against watch lists.

The Sept. 11 commission later urged the administration to expedite the task because, it said, the watch lists currently used by airlines aren't complete.

But checking names against watch lists hasn't been as easy as it sounds, partly because airlines collect only limited information about passengers.

Also, the number of names on the watch lists increased into the tens of thousands since the Sept. 11 attacks. That problem has resulted in passengers from infants to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) being mistakenly told they couldn't fly because they have the same name as someone on the watch list.

The project has also drawn protests from privacy advocates and civil libertarians because its stated purpose has changed, often expanding.

Project managers once said that it would be used to track down violent criminals, and then backed down. They've also proposed using commercial data, such as that supplied by Choicepoint, to locate members of terrorist sleeper cells among people who buy airline tickets.

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On the Net:

Transportation Security Administration: http://www.tsa.gov

[NormsRevenge]

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security and chief of the Transportation Security Administration Edmund Hawley testifies at the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing regarding commercial aviation security Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Security concerns have caused the government to suspend plans for an ambitious program to check every domestic airline passenger's name against government watch lists Hawley said Thursday. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

[taxed2death]

"Nearly four years and $200 million after the program was put into operation, Hawley said last month that the agency hadn't yet determined precisely how the it would work."

Gotta love it. Our tax dollars at work.

[faloi]

Hawley did not say whether any security flaws or breaches had been discovered. "We don't believe any passenger information has been compromised," Amy von Walter, spokeswoman for TSA, told reporters.

That's sort of suspicious. There's no reason to point out that passenger information hasn't been compromised unless you believe something happened that might compromise it.

[MineralMan]

"Nearly four years and $200 million after the program was put into operation, Hawley said last month that the agency hadn't yet determined precisely how the it would work. "

I know! I know! Teacher! Teacher!

Yes, MineralMan...

It would work very badly, as do all government data operations.

[LambSlave]

Security concerns have caused the government to suspend plans for an ambitious program to check every domestic airline passenger's name against government watch lists.

Translation: The sheep caught us again!!

"We don't believe any passenger information has been compromised," Amy von Walter, spokeswoman for TSA, told reporters.

Translation: Passenger information has certainly been compromised... CYA time

Nearly four years and $200 million after the program was put into operation, Hawley said last month that the agency hadn't yet determined precisely how the it would work.

Translation: Business as usual!

But checking names against watch lists hasn't been as easy as it sounds, partly because airlines collect only limited information about passengers.

Translation: We can't connect the dots unless we compile dossiers on each American citizen...

Also, the number of names on the watch lists increased into the tens of thousands since the Sept. 11 attacks. That problem has resulted in passengers from infants to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) being mistakenly told they couldn't fly because they have the same name as someone on the watch list.

Note: We need to make sure we're not accountable, so we'll include a provision that denies due process to get your name removed from the list (unless your Ted the Red)

The project has also drawn protests from privacy advocates and civil libertarians because its stated purpose has changed, often expanding.

Translation: We'll word everything as vaguely as possible so we can expand our powers without restraint later

Project managers once said that it would be used to track down violent criminals, and then backed down.

What's that? Oh the government is not allowed to maintain dossiers... hmmmm...They've also proposed using commercial data, such as that supplied by Choicepoint, to locate members of terrorist sleeper cells among people who buy airline tickets.

Then we'll get civilians to do it and buy it from them. By the way, Choicepoint scares me far more than the terrorists (please search, it is truly mind blowing... they keep data on Americans... banking, leagal, business... then sell it to government agencies at all levels... now they are creating one consolidated database... but no one is held accountable when they screw things up and there is no way to correct entries...