January 13, 2002 CORRESPONDENT'S REPORT By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr. =20 =20 ASHINGTON -- THE long lines afflicting passengers as airlines and airports=20 tighten security seem to presage a new era of inconvenience as the=20 international war on terrorism intensifies.=20 As ever, the travel industry and regulatory agencies are looking for=20 technology to solve the aviation security riddle.=20 In the past the better mousetraps they sought came in the form of X-ray=20 machines and other devices to detect bombs and weapons; now the technology=20 they are suggesting focuses on the traveler's identity.=20 The key to this new approach is foolproof identity papers, backed up with=20 reliable databanks for tracking travelers as they move across international=20 borders. In this approach, the new buzzword is biometrics, the science of=20 identifying people through biological markers just as reliable as=20 fingerprints, such as quick computerized scans of their faces, their palms,=20 or even the insides of their eyeballs, whose detailed features are=20 unmistakable signatures of self.=20 In the wake of the September hijackings, a consortium of airlines and=20 airports has proposed issuing smart ID cards linked to biometric markers,=20 carried by anyone willing to sacrifice some privacy in order to avoid travel= =20 delays. While the carry-on luggage of such participants would still be=20 X-rayed, these travelers could pass through special gates in much the same=20 way that automobiles with E-ZPasses zip through tollbooths. No legislation=20 would be required to put the system into place, as it would be operated=20 entirely by the private sector. All passengers carrying the SkyD card, as the proposed identification card i= s=20 called, would agree that the industry group could maintain personal profiles= =20 of them that would include all available public information =E2=80=94 such t= hings as=20 credit ratings, telephone numbers, addresses, driver's license files, voting= =20 registrations. People whose records show a normal, stable life would be presumed to pose=20 little risk as potential terrorists, while those with no credit history, no=20 fixed address and no other evidence that they are who they claim to be would= =20 be refused the identity cards. The data about travelers would be kept=20 confidential, although the government could demand to see it in criminal=20 investigations. Privacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union object to the=20 proposal, not so much because the assembled data is especially sensitive but= =20 because people who chose not to carry the cards would be subjected to=20 intrusive searches. In effect, that would make participation in the program=20 coerced rather than voluntary.=20 But at a hearing of the Senate aviation subcommittee in November, Senator Ja= y=20 Rockefeller, a Democrat of West Virginia, endorsed the idea and said people=20 might find any sacrifice of privacy worthwhile if it resulted in a more=20 secure aviation system. Jane Garvey, the administrator of the Federal=20 Aviation Administration, which enforces regulations governing airline=20 security, said the agency would like to test the idea.=20 There are many variations on the proposal, such as legislation introduced by= =20 Senators John Kyl, an Arizona Republican, and Dianne Feinstein, a California= =20 Democrat, that would require foreign nationals to present smart cards linked= =20 to their visas when they enter and leave the country, so that their comings=20 and goings could be traced at the borders.=20 Most advocates balk at the ultimate in smart-card identification: a system=20 that would use DNA samples as proof of identity, as is done in some criminal= =20 trials. Proponents of other, less invasive, techniques say they are adequate= . Ingersoll Rand, which makes handprint reading equipment, says in publicity=20 material that biometric hand readers "simultaneously and instantaneously=20 record 90 separate measurements of a hand =E2=80=94 including length, width,= =20 thickness and surface area =E2=80=94 to verify that the person using the dev= ice=20 really is who he or she claims to be. The hand reader compares this=20 information with a 'template' of the person's hand that has been recorded=20 previously and stored in a secure database. The reading and verification=20 process takes less than a second."=20 Approaches like these are so promising that Technology Review, an M.I.T.=20 magazine, has named biometrics one of the top 10 innovations likely to chang= e=20 the world in the coming few years. Aviation security is just its most=20 prominent application at the moment.=20 Experts in the technology, like John Woodward, a former C.I.A. operations=20 officer who is a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, which does=20 research for government agencies and companies, say that it is not a silver=20 bullet against terrorism, but that it offers obvious advantages, such as=20 making it harder to forge ID cards or travel documents. Even the International Biometric Industry Association, an advocacy group, in= =20 a formal policy statement 10 days after the Sept. 11 attacks, warned against= =20 considering the technology a panacea for international security problems. Bu= t=20 it also emphasized the "pivotal role biometrics will almost certainly play"=20 in fighting terrorism.=20 Indeed, it is already being used experimentally. The Immigration and=20 Naturalization Service has been using identification cards linked to=20 handprints since 1997 to let tens of thousands of frequent travelers enter=20 the country swiftly through some major airports, including Los Angeles,=20 Miami, Newark, Kennedy, San Francisco, Honolulu and Dulles, near Washington.= =20 Automated kiosks that accept the cards, called INSPass cards, are to be=20 installed at 23 airports within a few years. Enrollment in the system has=20 more than doubled in the past year, to 45,000 people, who typically use the=20 cards about four times a year.=20 =20 =20 =20