http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,4287,SB1012341813532435520,00.html
January 30, 2002 THE MIDDLE SEAT By SCOTT MCCARTNEY A 'Trusted Traveler' Pass May Be In the Cards for Frequent Fliers ABOUT SCOTT MCCARTNEY Some day in the future, maybe a year from now, you may have a "trusted traveler" card. Congress wants it, the airlines need it and security experts endorse it. The benefits appear clear. With a tool to separate the wheat from the chaff, security forces can focus scrutiny on people who could be potential threats. Travelers with a card could go through a security check about as swiftly as they would have before Sept. 11. The Air Transport Association, the airline's main trade group in Washington, says these government-issued cards -- essentially domestic passports -- would go only to people cleared by intelligence and security agencies. Names would be checked against lists from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and the national Immigration Service. (That's supposed to happen anyway in new computer-profiling systems.) Presumably, this would be a coordinated effort: The U.S. would check with other nations, and those nations would check with the U.S. before issuing their own trusted traveler cards. For business travelers, anything that will help avoid long lines and invasive searches is welcome. (If you ever doubted the randomness of the security checks these days, know that American Airlines employees recently searched the wife of Chief Executive Donald Carty as he stood by.) For airlines, speedier security is critical. Business travel, the key to profits for carriers, is depressed by the recession. But the hassles of travel have taken a toll, too. Out and back in one day? Not as easy as it used to be. Is a sales call worth it if it takes two days? A rebound in business travel relies on the economy and on airlines' ability to make travel more productive. "A trusted traveler card is absolutely essential for airlines. You simply can't hassle business travelers," says Robert Crandall, the former chief of American Airlines who has abandoned his retirement sailboat to champion industry security issues. Besides, business travelers love a two-tier system. They expect it when renting a car, boarding a plane or getting first-class upgrades. Heck, if you pay $2,000 instead of $200, you should get better service, right? But is a trusted traveler card is a good idea? I don't think so. The big problem is bad guys can get a card, just like good guys. A terrorist could simply spend a year or two as a high-fare road warrior, building up miles and trust. One lesson we learned from World Trade Center attacks is that terrorists will take whatever we give them. In all the rush to fix airport and airline security, we often forget that the terrorists probably didn't break any rules at airports on Sept. 11, nor did they do anything that should have been caught by security screeners. The Federal Aviation Administration allowed small knives on board airplanes. The attackers patiently invested time and money in gaining the ability to fly planes. They played by our rules. Why wouldn't they do the same to get a trusted traveler card? The airline industry contends it's a smarter form of security. "If we learned anything from Sept. 11, it's that you have to focus on people, not just checked bags and carry-ons," says Michael Wascom, spokesman for the Air Transport Association. "Right now, everyone is treated as an equal risk." Maybe they should be. Consider Richard Reid, the man accused of attempting to blow up an American Airlines jet with a bomb in his shoes. Mr. Reid had no significant criminal history and wasn't on any terrorist watch lists. American Airlines found him suspicious enough to turn him in to French police the first time he tried to board a trans-Atlantic flight, and French police cleared him to go. Still, security experts say a two-tier system would allow stricter screening of the population most likely to pose trouble. If a majority of fliers have the card -- and those advocating it expect that an overwhelming percentage of travelers will opt to carry the card -- then officials can focus on a limited portion of passengers. Cathal Flynn, former head of security for the FAA, says the criteria for who gets a trusted traveler card should be set so high that someone like Richard Reid couldn't get one, though it's unclear how someone with little documented background could be excluded. "Government can say with high confidence that you are not associated with terrorism," Mr. Flynn says. Mr. Crandall, former chief of American Airlines, advocates a thorough initial background check, updated annually, and a requirement for a Social Security number. "There's a danger no matter what you do. You can't make the system perfect," he says. Already, libertarians and civil liberties experts have voiced opposition to a trusted traveler card on privacy grounds, but it's not likely to provoke a big debate. Unlike the proposed national I.D. card, the trusted traveler card would be voluntary. You can certainly travel without one, just expect to arrive at the airport earlier. Some people may not like turning over lots of information to the government in order to get a trusted traveler card, but it's basically information the government already has. Frankly, to do it right may be an impossible task. The U.S. Department of Transportation and newly created Transportation Security Agency are still trying to run background checks on 600,000 airline employees. Doing so on millions and millions of travelers, and updating cards annually, will be a nightmare. Before the travel industry sets the autopilot on a trusted traveler card, we ought to think carefully about the risks. URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1012341813532435520.djm,00.html Hyperlinks in this Article: (1) mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (2) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB101197459910000000,00.html (3) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1011177504881863160,00.html (4) http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1010963370344677280,00.html Updated January 30, 2002 12:01 a.m. EST Copyright 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printing, distribution, and use of this material is governed by your Subscription agreement and Copyright laws. For information about subscribing go to http://www.wsj.com -- ----------------- R. A. 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