Foes Assault Passenger Screening

02:00 AM Feb. 12, 2004 PT

Privacy groups, business travelers and members of Congress asked the federal government this week to reconsider its plans to implement a passenger-profiling system because agencies have not adequately addressed privacy concerns or shown effectiveness in detecting potential terrorists.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California), joined by 25 other Democrats, sent President Bush a letter Wednesday asking his administration to protect passenger privacy. The group also proposed that airlines should tell passengers exactly what information they pass along as travelers make reservations.

"Before the Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening Program (CAPPS II) is implemented, we urge the adoption of a specific policy that makes clear the role of airlines in sharing consumer information with the federal government," wrote the legislators.

Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Barbara Lee (D-California), along with other legislators, went even further in their own letter sent to David Stone, the acting director of the Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, which manages airport security.

"Members of Congress and the public have no real assurances that the system will not rely upon medical, religious, political or racial data," wrote the representatives, who also questioned whether the system would even be effective.

CAPPS II will require passengers to give more personal information when buying airline tickets, information that will then be checked against mammoth commercial databases, watch lists and warrants to screen for suspected terrorists and people wanted for violent crimes.

An ideologically diverse group of public-interest groups -- including Common Cause, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Free Congress Foundation -- joined the letter-writing campaign, asking Congress for hearings.

This third letter, addressed to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, asked the committee to look into Northwest's and JetBlue's transfer of passenger data to federal agencies without notifying their passengers, and to investigate the potential for future abuses.

The flurry of correspondence comes just days after the program's point man, Ben H. Bell III, announced his resignation (to be effective April 3).

Bell, a former Marine Corps officer with extensive computer experience, headed the Office of National Risk Assessment, a little-known component of the TSA that is responsible for developing a replacement for the current profiling system.

The current version, known as CAPPS I, flags travelers who buy one-way tickets, pay with cash or have names similar to known terrorists. Both privacy activists and the government describe the system as outdated and inefficient. It has flagged far too many people who have no connection to terrorism, and it has flagged others who suspect they were singled out because of political beliefs.

The TSA hopes CAPPS II would flag fewer travelers for intensive screening. Currently, 15 percent of all passengers are flagged.

The letters and calls for hearings also come as government security officials are testifying in Congress this week, and just days before the General Accounting Office releases a report on CAPPS II's effectiveness and privacy protections.

A report mandated by Congress is scheduled to be released Friday afternoon, just before a three-day weekend. A highly critical report could lead to increased congressional opposition and a possible showdown between the White House and legislators over Congress' authority to curtail the program.

The Associated Press, which said it obtained a draft copy of the report, said Wednesday that the GAO gave the system a failing grade on seven of eight criteria.

Civil liberties activists, who believe the report will be severely critical of the program, were disappointed about the timing of the release, fearing it could dilute the report's impact.