Budget officials question passenger-screening program WASHINGTON (AP) =97 The government's plan to assign a threat level to all=20 airline passengers is running into trouble with budget officials who aren't= =20 convinced it will reduce the risk of terrorism. Mark Forman, associate=20 director of the Office of Management and Budget, said Tuesday the agency=20 won't let the plan go forward until questions about its effectiveness are=20 answered. He said the Transportation Security Administration hasn't been=20 forthcoming with information about how the program or the technology will=20 work. "I have a huge spotlight on that project," Forman told the House=20 subcommittee on technology and information policy. "If we can't prove it=20 lowers risk, it's not a good investment for government." CAPPS II =97=20 Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System =97 was ordered by Congress= =20 after the Sept. 11 attacks. The plan is to develop a nationwide computer=20 system that will check such things as credit reports and consumer=20 transactions and compare passenger names with those on government watch= lists. Critics see a potential for unconstitutional invasions of privacy and for=20 database mix-ups that could lead to innocent people being branded security= =20 risks. A coalition of conservative and liberal groups sent a letter Tuesday= =20 to Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., chairman of the Select Committee on=20 Homeland Security, urging greater scrutiny of the TSA's plan. "Congress=20 should carefully and deliberately assess the program's effectiveness as a=20 security measure, its cost in economic terms, and its cost to civil=20 liberties before allowing TSA to move forward with CAPPS II," wrote the=20 coalition, which includes Americans for Tax Reform, Free Congress=20 Foundation, the Eagle Forum, the American Civil Liberties Union and the=20 Center for Democracy and Technology. TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said the= =20 agency is working to allay privacy concerns by building in protections and= =20 giving airline customers ways to resolve problems if they arise. The system= =20 will only focus on identifying foreign terrorists, Johnson said. Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the=20 ACLU, said that focus raises questions about the system's effectiveness.=20 For example, what about a domestic terrorist like Timothy McVeigh, he=20 asked. "Chances are terrorists will adapt," said Steinhardt, who along with= =20 other civil libertarians met last week with TSA officials to discuss the=20 program. "The extent to which they want to do something to a plane, you=20 send in a domestic terrorist." Lori Waters, the Eagle Forum's executive=20 director, applauded the TSA for reaching out but said the group still has=20 privacy concerns about CAPPS II. "What's the complaint process going to=20 be?" she said. "How are you going to be dealing with children? There are a= =20 lot of issues up in the air." Airlines already do rudimentary checks of=20 passenger information, such as method of payment, address and date the=20 ticket was reserved. CAPPS II, which TSA officials hope to have operating=20 nationwide by the end of the year, will collect additional data and rate=20 each passenger's risk potential according to a three-color system: green,=20 yellow, red. When travelers check in, their names will be punched into the= =20 system and the boarding passes encrypted with the ranking. TSA screeners=20 will check the passes at checkpoints. The vast majority of passengers will be rated green and won't be subjected= =20 to anything more than normal checks, while yellow will get extra screening= =20 and red won't fly. Witnesses who testified at Tuesday's subcommittee=20 hearing cautioned that government data, such as Social Security=20 information, often is flawed. "The problem is the quality and=20 trustworthiness of information," said Jen Que Louie, president of Nautilus= =20 Systems, Inc., a data-mining company. He said some government data is so=20 bad "it's amazing they can conduct business." Defense contractor=20 Lockheed-Martin was awarded a $12.8 million contract in February to=20 administer CAPPS II as the first phase of a 5-year program. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************