Study proposes special ID to cut airport screening times PITTSBURGH (AP) =97 Travelers could cut their waiting time at airport=20 screening stations if they'd agree to a special ID card and background=20 check that would cost about $50, Carnegie Mellon University researchers=20 said Wednesday. About 40% of all air travelers, mostly frequent fliers,=20 would be interested in using the system, according to graduate student=20 researchers at the school's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and=20 Management. Under the system, those travelers would submit to a background= =20 check, and if they passed, they would be given a special ID card that would= =20 include biometric information such as an embedded fingerprint or image of=20 their iris. In return for submitting to the system =97 and paying $50 for= the=20 background check =97 travelers could go through less-stringent passenger and= =20 baggage screening systems similar to those in place before the Sept. 11,=20 2001 terrorist attacks. The students estimate that travelers using the cards would cut their=20 waiting times in security lines by 82%. Travelers without cards would have= =20 their wait cut by about 16%, even though they would still submit to more=20 rigorous post 9-11 checks, simply because there would be fewer people in=20 those lines. The university has asked the U.S. Transportation Security=20 Administration for permission to test their program at Pittsburgh=20 International Airport. That request is still pending. Craig Martelle, the=20 assistant federal security director for screening at the Pittsburgh=20 airport, said TSA officials in Washington, D.C. believe the system known as= =20 SWIFT =97 for Short-Wait Integrated Flight Travel =97 represents "the best= =20 research in this area that's been done in the entire United States." *************************************************** 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.cso.gov.tt TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************