[Infowarrior] - Homeland Security Extends Comment Time for ATS

[Richard Forno]

Homeland Security Extends Comment Time
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/05/AR2006120501
110_pf.html

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, December 5, 2006; 7:01 PM

WASHINGTON -- Under pressure from Congress and the public, the Homeland
Security Department extended the time for people to comment on its
computerized risk assessment system for international travelers.

The deadline was pushed back from Dec. 4 to Dec. 29, department spokesman
Jarrod Agen said Tuesday.

By Tuesday, the department had received 59 public comments. All but one
either opposed the system outright as a violation of privacy and other laws
or called for better means for people to correct any errors in the data. One
law firm representing ship owners and importers sought more time for
comment.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who will become chairman of the House
Homeland Security Committee when Democrats take control of Congress in
January, wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff seeking
extension of the comment period.

Based on a briefing that committee staff received about the system last
Friday, Thompson wrote "serious concerns have arisen that, with respect to
U.S. citizens and possibly lawful permanent aliens, some elements of ATS as
practiced may constitute violations of privacy or civil rights."

The Associated Press reported last Thursday that for four years Customs and
Border Protection agents have been using the Automatic Targeting System, or
ATS, to produce assessments of the risk that any of the millions of people
crossing U.S. borders, including Americans, are terrorists or criminals.

Almost every traveler entering or leaving the country is evaluated by the
ATS computers, but they are not allowed to see the assessment of them or
directly challenge its accuracy. The government intends to keep the
assessments 40 years and the data on which they are based for up to 40
years.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
promised more congressional scrutiny next year of the government's
anti-terrorist databases and called the ATS scheme "simply incredible."

The assessments are based on applying so-called rules, which are actually
assumptions based on the past behavior of terrorists and criminals, to the
person's travel records, including where they are from, how they paid for
tickets, their motor vehicle records, past one-way travel, seating
preference and what kind of meals they ordered.

The government's first acknowledgment that ATS was producing risk
assessments of travelers came in a Nov. 2 notice in the Federal Register, a
dry daily compendium of rules and regulations.

Although that notice said ATS would be implemented Dec. 4 unless negative
comments dissuaded officials, ATS has been operational for some time and no
changes were planned for Dec. 4, Toby Levin, senior adviser in Homeland
Security's privacy office told the AP.

The notice was only designed "to give greater transparency" to what Homeland
Security was already doing, she said.

In fact, Jayson Ahern, assistant commissioner of Customs and Border
Protection, said federal agents had used ATS to develop risk assessments of
travelers since the late 1990s, but the program had mushroomed in 2002 when
legislation spawned by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks took effect.
That legislation required all air and cruise lines to electronically give
Homeland Security advance lists of all their incoming and outgoing
passengers and crew members.

In addition, Ahern said Amtrak voluntarily provides passenger data on rail
travelers between the U.S. and Canada and border agents keep track of many
of the people and drivers who enter or leave land border crossings. Ahern
said ATS is designed to pick out people who are not already on watch lists
or wanted by law enforcement.

Homeland Security's Agen said a new notice announcing the extension was sent
Tuesday to the Federal Register and would be published in a few days.