Contrary to some recent claims, the US makes full use of the Interpol passport database.
There was some misunderstanding here because of a WA post article that said, for the first time, Interpol would allow a couple of private airlines to use the database. Some got the impression from the article that no country, including the US, was using the passport database. That isn't true. Up till now, however, only government entities, like our customs and border officials could access the database.
US customs and border officials make 250 million passport checks a year using the Interpol database, out of a total of 800 million worldwide.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/10/travel/malaysia-airlines-stolen-passports/
The United States searches the database more than 250 million times annually, the United Kingdom more than 120 million times annually and the United Arab Emirates more than 50 million times annually, Interpol said. (Some 300,000 passports are lost or stolen each year in the United States, according to the U.S. State Department, which collects reports of stolen passports and sends them to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Interpol.)
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection vets all travelers booked on flights to, from and heading through the United States through the Advanced Passenger Information System.
It conducts a thorough review of all relevant domestic and international criminal databases, including Interpol's, for any issues of concern. This review includes reports of stolen documents.
"If Malaysia Airlines and all airlines worldwide were able to check the passport details of prospective passengers against Interpol's database, then we would not have to speculate whether stolen passports were used by terrorists to board MH 370," Interpol's Noble said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/interpol-shows-image-of-2-iranians-on-missing-jet/2014/03/11/ee170fa8-a909-11e3-8a7b-c1c684e2671f_story.html
While the database has been available to authorities for more than a decade, only a handful of countries actively use it — primarily the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Noble said that more than 1 billion times last year, travelers boarded planes without their passports being checked against the database.
SNIP
It takes less than a second for countries to query the database via Interpol software and an Internet connection, once a passport is scanned. Interpol says some of its 190 member countries have cited a lack of police resources, privacy concerns, or political hostilities for their failure to check passports against the global data.
“We are saying: Because of the limitations of access by the national authorities, then should we not consider providing access to the airlines themselves as well in a very controlled manner?” O’Connell said. He said the ultimate goal is to expand the airlines program. Now, “it’s at the embryonic stage,” he said.