[Infowarrior] - TSA: No-Fly List Being Checked and Cut

[Richard Forno]

 No-Fly List Being Checked and Cut
By BEVERLEY LUMPKIN Associated Press Writer

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=116&sid=1035672#

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is checking the accuracy of a
watch list of suspected terrorists banned from traveling on airliners in the
U.S. and will probably cut the list in half, the head of the Transportation
Security Administration said Wednesday.

Kip Hawley told Congress that the more accurate list, combined with a new
passenger screening system, should take care of most incidents of people
wrongly being prevented from boarding a flight or frequently being picked
out for additional scrutiny.

A "no-fly" list of suspected terrorists and criminals considered too
dangerous to travel on commercial airliners in this country has existed for
decades. But since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the list
expanded. Tightened security procedures have led to closer scrutiny of air
travelers and resulted in many complaints.

The TSA has been working with intelligence agencies and the FBI to improve
the watch list. Before the 9/11 attacks, almost every intelligence agency
had its own list of undesirables and resisted sharing it with other
agencies.

Even cutting the list in half is "nice but not all that meaningful," said
Barry Steinhardt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. He
noted that various estimates of the list's size, which is classified, have
ranged from 50,000 to 350,000 names.

"Cutting a list of 350,000 names is not all that impressive," Steinhardt
added.

At a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee, Hawley ran into inquiries
from lawmakers with family members or friends who had encountered problems
at airport checkpoints.

Among them was Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who complained that his wife,
Catherine, was being identified as "Cat" Stevens and frequently stopped due
to confusion with the former name of the folk singer now known as Yusuf
Islam, whose name is on the list. In 2004 he was denied entry into the U.S.,
but officials declined to explain why.

Hawley explained that Secure Flight, the new passenger screening program,
which he hopes will be running in 2008, would make such problems "a thing of
the past."

Hawley said his agency sends correctives to the airlines.

"Unfortunately, it depends airline by airline how their individual systems
work as to how effectively that's done," he said.

Hawley was questioned by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., about the lack of
screening for passengers on private aircraft, which Rockefeller called "very
disturbing."

Hawley said there are many security measures in place on the ground around
general aviation terminals, but that the department is considering the
longer-term issue of whether such private flight passengers should be
subjected to individual screening.

 Senators also asked Hawley about a provision recommended by the 9/11
Commission, and passed by the House last week, that would require 100
percent physical inspection of all air cargo loaded onto passenger planes.
The Senate has yet to act on the measure.

"We prefer not to have a 100 percent requirement on anything," Hawley said.
"Because you tend to be focused then on, how do we accomplish what is
written in the law, as opposed to a smarter security that says, okay, we're
in a risk-based business, how are we going to stop the bomb from being in
here?"

Also Wednesday, the Homeland Security Department launched a new program for
passengers who feel wronged to try correcting the list.

The program will give travelers "a clearly-defined process" to report
problems, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in a written
statement.

Beginning Feb. 20, the program, dubbed Traveler Redress Inquiry Program,
will serve as a central processing point for all inquiries about Homeland
Security agencies' databases.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)