Group says biometric screening could reduce airport hassle

[The Straight Story]

Group says biometric screening could reduce airport hassle


A voluntary biometric screening system to identify "trusted" air travelers will reduce the hassle of air travel and free up Transportation Security Administration employees to look more closely at higher-risk passengers, security and travel experts said on Wednesday.

The U.S. Travel Association, a trade group representing the $704 billion travel industry, announced the findings of an expert panel and outlined the "Trusted Traveler" screening program, in which passengers volunteer personal biometric data - possibly including iris scans or fingerprints - and answer questions about where they work and travel in exchange for being identified as low-risk passengers. They would also undergo a background check compared to criminal and other databases.

These travelers would get to speed through security screening, presenting their biometric data that would "trigger a real-time match of the individual's identity against a database of trusted travelers," the USTA report said. If a passenger shares a name with a high-risk passenger or someone on the terrorist watch list, a personalized program would reduce the chances that person would be targeted for extra screening.


The panel was chaired by former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and other heavyweight security and policy experts; it also included airline and airport representatives. It was created in February 2010 - well before last holiday season's backlash against new TSA screening policies that gave passengers a choice between full-body scanners, which outline individual travelers' naked bodies to ensure they are not concealing weapons, and intensive pat-downs. Passengers were uneasy about the radiation emitted by the scanners and the forced intimacy of the pat-down procedures and lodged complaints with the travel group for the report.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=47353&oref=todaysnews

[Marblehead]

1. a select few

will be able to travel without harassment..