Airlines security system flags David Nelsons LOS ANGELES (AP) =97 David Nelson is not an easy name to have these days.=20 Across the country men with this name say they have been pulled off=20 airplanes, questioned by FBI agents and harassed when traveling by air. The= =20 nationwide dragnet for terrorists has caused the name to raise red flags on= =20 airline screening software, but some federal officials say the problem is=20 essentially a computer glitch, the Los Angeles Daily News reported Sunday.= =20 David Nelsons in at least four states, including California, Oregon, Alaska= =20 and South Dakota, have reported getting stopped. Even the former child star= =20 of ABC-TV's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, was stopped by a ticket=20 agent at John Wayne Airport in December while en route to visit his=20 daughter in Salt Lake City. Now a Newport Beach film producer, David=20 Nelson, 66, told the Daily News that after airline ticket agents stopped=20 him, two police officers quickly recognized him, and he was allowed to=20 board his flight. "I don't think (terrorist) have the middle name 'Ozzie,'"= =20 he recalled telling an agent. For other David Nelsons, the experience was=20 more difficult. Actor David Nelson, 35, of Hollywood said that on a recent trip to Hawaii,= =20 a ticket agent at Los Angeles International Airport took one look at his=20 driver's license and said, "Oh boy. Here's another David Nelson." Nelson=20 said the ticket agent told him the name brings up a "red flag" for=20 terrorists. A few months before on a New York-bound airplane, he had been=20 told to exit the plane and was searched by FBI agents before reboarding.=20 "When you get back on the plane, people look at you funny," he said. After= =20 agents requested to search him several times before the Hawaii flight,=20 Nelson said he turned around and went home. A so-called "no-fly" list was=20 introduced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and is meant to prevent=20 potential terrorists from boarding planes. The TSA gets names from law=20 enforcement officials and hands the list over to airlines to screen= passengers. In April, Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez=20 said those on the no-fly list pose, or are suspected of posing, a threat to= =20 civil aviation and national security. "We do not confirm the presence of a= =20 particular name of an individual on a list," he said. "It's security=20 information that we just won't do." Melendez told the Daily News that the=20 "David Nelson" problem is due to a name-matching technology used by many=20 airlines. He said it's not the name but letters in the name that are=20 randomly flagged by the software. But David Kennedy, director of research=20 services for TruSecure Corp., a Virginia-based firm that specializes in=20 intelligence security, said he thinks it's more likely the name is on the=20 no-fly list. "I'm more inclined to believe there is a bad David Nelson out= =20 there they're looking for," he said. Either way, since there is little to=20 identify those on the list other than their names, it is difficult for many= =20 to get their names removed. In response, TSA has established a hot line for= =20 those who feel they were wrongly selected. *************************************************** 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/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.carib-link.net/naparima/naps.html TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************