'Trusted-traveler' card could speed security check By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY Tighter airport security has made life on the road miserable for frequent=20 business travelers. But should they get special breaks at airport security= =20 checkpoints, such as first-class pampering, even before they're in their=20 air? Salesman Martin von Paleske thinks so. The Orlando businessman=20 typically spends 16 hours a month waiting in airports. "As a frequent=20 business traveler, it's very frustrating not knowing if it will take five=20 minutes or one hour to get through security," he says. A possible solution:= =20 Give millions of frequent travelers a high-tech "trusted-traveler" card=20 that lets them pass through airport security faster than others. Such a=20 program would require enrollees to pass a rigorous background check that=20 would likely consider criminal records and work histories, and submit=20 biometric information such as fingerprints or an iris scan. The card =97= with=20 an embedded microchip =97 could store the biometric information to verify= the=20 cardholder's ID and almost anything else the government wants to know. This month, the Air Transport Association (ATA), the major airlines' group,= =20 will ask the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for permission to= =20 test the concept with pilots and flight attendants who have already passed= =20 background checks. Nine months after Sept. 11, the concept continues to be as hotly debated as= =20 it was shortly after the terrorist attacks. Government officials, security= =20 experts and civil libertarians are at loggerheads about a system that would= =20 give special treatment to certain "trusted" travelers. Questions abound:=20 What determines who is trusted? How thorough are the background checks?=20 Would the system compromise airport security? Yet, airline executives crave such a program. "We're all looking for an=20 efficient way to strike a balance between passenger convenience and=20 security," says Dirk McMahon, Northwest Airlines senior vice president of=20 customer service. "We think a trusted-traveler program clearly takes some=20 of the hassle out of airport travel." Airlines say the "hassle factor" is=20 driving customers away. Based on a Delta survey of its frequent fliers that= =20 found nearly 27% cited the "hassle factor" for not flying, the ATA=20 estimates it will cost airlines $3.8 billion in revenue this year.=20 Advocates also say that removing approved travelers from the system faster= =20 would let the government better examine those it knows less about.=20 Screeners might be able to do a better job of watching for smuggled=20 weapons. A recent TSA test at 32 airports found screeners missed fake=20 weapons about a quarter of the time. Critics of today's system cite the=20 experience of former vice president Al Gore, who was recently searched=20 twice on a trip between Washington and Milwaukee. "Today, everybody runs=20 through the same system, and everybody's being handled like a potential=20 terrorist," says Yossi Yahav, vice president of ICTS, the international=20 security firm that stopped alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid twice in Paris.= =20 "With the number of people at U.S. airports, you will miss that specific=20 needle in the haystack unless you identify the good guys to reduce the=20 haystack." But any new system could present loopholes. Could terrorists plot years in= =20 advance and enroll in a trusted-traveler program? Could a background check= =20 spot someone like Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, who had a clean=20 military record and no criminal past? Security expert Billie Vincent says=20 the program's only use is to pacify the airlines' best customers. "There is= =20 no such thing as a trusted traveler," says Vincent, the former head of=20 security at the Federal Aviation Administration. "There is a thing called=20 putting terrorists on airplanes faster. All you have to do is conform to=20 the rules of the trusted-traveler program and then make yourself a trusted= =20 traveler, which means you get minimal security." And there are privacy=20 concerns. Advocates say the program would be voluntary and poses no threat= =20 to privacy. But Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties= =20 Union's Program on Technology and Liberty, disagrees. "This is not truly=20 voluntary. Everybody's going to want this, because the price of not having= =20 one of these cards is going to be even more intrusive questioning and=20 searches," he says. "You're really asking someone to subject themselves to= =20 far more humiliation and embarrassment if they don't have one of these= cards." For now, the program remains a concept. The TSA has authority to create a=20 database of approved travelers to help speed airport processing, but it's a= =20 low priority. The TSA is scrambling to meet deadlines to hire thousands of= =20 screeners by November and screen 100% of checked baggage at 429 airports by= =20 December while fending off congressional attacks for spending too much=20 money. TSA chief John Magaw also is concerned that the program would relax= =20 screening for some travelers. Saving time isn't appealing to all travelers.= =20 Warren Wiltz, UPS' director of national accounts, travels every week and=20 says he'd be more comfortable knowing that everyone he's flying with has=20 been thoroughly checked before boarding. "They got us the first time by=20 being lax," says Wiltz. "So I don't have a problem with being asked to be=20 searched to make sure that I'm safe on the airplane." 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