Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 00:48:10 +0000 ("GMT")
From: freemanaz@aol.com ( "FreemanAZ@aol.com" )
Subject: [azpeace] [www.washtimes.com]
To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com ( "azpeace@yahoogroups.com" )
Reply-To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com


FreemanAZ@aol.com has sent you an article from The
Washington Times.





ID CARD FOR AIR PASSENGERS

Tom Ramstack
THE WASHINGTON TIMES



A U.S. Department of Transportation task force is moving
forward with plans for a national transportation-worker
identity card intended as a first step toward
"trusted-traveler" cards for airline passengers.

The trusted-traveler card is part of the Aviation and
Transportation Security signed by President Bush Nov. 19
that authorized the Transportation Security Administration
to "establish requirements to implement trusted passenger
programs and use available technologies to expedite the
security screening of passengers." 

Trusted-traveler cards would authorize passengers to bypass
extensive security screening at airport checkpoints. The
Israeli government instituted a trusted-traveler program
five years ago in an effort to speed up long lines at
airport security checkpoints.

The electronic card would have an encoded biometric
description of the owner to ensure that the person using it
is the same person identified on the card. Biometrics refers
to computerized systems that identify a unique part of each
person's antomy, such as fingerprints, facial structure or
irises.

Eventually, the Transportation Department task force wants
the cards to be used throughout airports and transportation
services internationally. The card is intended to shorten
lines at airports, but FBI background checks would
disseminate information about the owners to many law
enforcement agencies.

Currently, the transportation-worker identity card is in a
draft proposal that needs approval from the Transportation
Security Administration and its new director, John Magaw. 

The idea of expanding the plan from transportation workers
to travelers has critics.

"This is a backdoor national ID," said Barry Steinhardt,
associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"This so-called trusted-passenger card will become
essentially mandatory for everyone to use not only on
airlines but also buses, trains and perhaps drives over
bridges and tunnels. The consequences of not having a
trusted-passenger card is that you will be immediately
suspect."

He said the card created additional privacy risks from
identity theft, inaccurate information and giving
information to foreign governments on political refugees. 

Initially, only transportation workers would use the
identification cards to control access to secure sites, such
as passenger boarding areas or docks where freight is
loaded, stored or received. It would be used for all
transportation modes, including airlines, freight and
passenger ships, railroads, trucks, buses and pipelines.

The draft proposal, developed by the Credentialing Direct
Agency Group (CDAG), foresees wider uses for the cards that
could include the trusted-traveler program.

"The focus of the CDAG's solution was on workers in the
transportation system, while achieving sufficient
flexibility to accommodate future needs to address
identification of users of the transportation system," the
draft proposal says. "The identification card system
developed would apply to any person who has unescorted
access to a transportation facility or who has access to
control of a transportation conveyance." 

CDAG is one of the task forces within the National
Infrastructure Security Committee that Transportation
Secretary Norman Y. Mineta organized within weeks after the
September 11 attacks.

The proposal recommends that the same card be used
throughout a national, and perhaps international, network.

For transportation-worker identification, the cards would
contain name, biometric information, date of birth, address,
security clearance level, cargo authoization and an
identification number. Details of the biometric information
 which most likely would be a fingerprint  would be
determined by the Transportation Security Administration.

"We're looking at all these kinds of issues," said Hank
Price, spokesman for the Transportation Security
Administration. "I think it would be premature to discuss
any specifics at all."

Among its supporters is Rep. John Culberson, a Texas
Republican who this week is soliciting signatures from
fellow congressmen for a letter he is sending to Mr. Bush.
The letter encourages the president to act promptly to
develop the "smart cards."

"The program would allow airport security and
law-enforcement personnel to focus their attention and
resources on passengers who pose a legitimate hijacking
threat and would help the Transportation Security
Administration achieve its stated goal of screening
passengers and baggage with no passenger delays greater than
10 minutes," the letter says.

Mr. Culberson also supports the preliminary step of te
national transportation-worker identification card,
according to his spokesman.



This article was mailed from The Washington Times
( http://www.washtimes.com/business/20020131-32817256.htm )
For more great articles, visit us at
http://www.washtimes.com

Copyright (c) 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All
rights reserved.


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