Air Traveler Screening Plan Gets Incomplete Review

This was probably never about passenger safety in the first place ....

Mar 28, 2005 — By John Crawley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government has yet to ensure privacy or complete other crucial steps in its overhaul of a computerized system to analyze personal information to identify airline passengers on "no-fly" or other watch lists, congressional investigators found on Monday.

The much anticipated General Accounting Office report card on the Transportation Security Administration's Secure Flight program found the agency making progress. Although there was not enough available information to conclude whether the project would be successful.

"Until TSA … completes additional system testing, it is uncertain how well Secure Flight will perform, or whether it will be ready for operational deployment in August 2005," the GAO said.

The security agency hoped to certify the system in January, but that has been pushed back to July. A final round of testing will begin in April.

More than 688 million people flew on domestic airlines in 2004, and that number is expected to top 1 billion a year over the next decade, regulators estimate. TSA hopes to screen 1.8 million passengers per day with Secure Flight.

Under the plan, airlines would transfer personal information to a government database. The TSA would check to see if any names were on watch lists and alert the airline about any matches.

Airlines perform the function now.

more...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=620756

... those estimates of passenger travel in the coming decade were made before fuel prices spiked. If fuel keeps going up, ticket prices are going to go up or more airlines will tank, and with less disposable income (if middle-class earnings continue to stay flat or decline), the airlines will be servicing mostly business travel.

The actual demand may be quite a bit less than what is said to be the need justifying this advanced system....