Date Posted: Wednesday, September 03, 2003

By Raeed N. Tayeh

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the federal agency charged with keeping our airports and airplanes safe, is in the final development stages of a program that would conduct extensive background checks on every person who travels by air.

The Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, better known as CAPPS II, is the next-generation of passenger profiling that the Department of Homeland Security, TSA’s parent, is seeking to implement. The current CAPPS system is run by the airlines for the sole purpose of confirming passenger identities.

The new computerized checks that TSA is proposing under CAPPS II would begin from the moment airline reservations are made. An “algorithm,” or computer script, would analyze information on individuals from both government and commercial databases and issue a terrorist threat rating that assesses the potential danger a passenger may pose. 

A coded “green” rating on a boarding pass tells TSA agents at airport security checkpoints that the passenger is cleared to fly.  A “yellow” rating would trigger intense scrutiny by security officers before the passenger clears the checkpoint, and a “red” rating would deny the passenger the right to fly, as law enforcement would then be called in to investigate.

For many, this sounds like a good way to protect the millions of people who fly everyday, but figures from both the Left and the Right are saying “Not so fast!” 

Last March, only two months after TSA announced CAPPS II, the Senate passed an amendment to a bill blocking funding for CAPPS II unless Congress was given oversight authority over the program. Senators were concerned about privacy issues the CAPPS II system raises and the lack of controls protecting citizens from the government’s abuse of the system.

The concerns stem from several unanswered questions: What personal information is used in the rating? From where is that information generated? Who will have access to that information? And how long will the government retain the information?

TSA went back to the drawing board and produced a revised draft of CAPPS II on August 1, as required by Congress, with a report on the changes made. The new version, however, has done little to calm fears of civil rights and liberties groups despite the government’s efforts to reach out to citizens for input.

In mid-August, officials from the TSA briefed representatives of the Muslim American Society (MAS), the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC), at a meeting hosted by the Arab American Institute (AAI), and although the opportunity to provide feedback was appreciated, the CAPPS II program was not supported by any of the groups present.

Days later, a press conference was held by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP), Americans for Tax Reform, former congressman and ultra-conservative Bob Barr, and others, in order to express their strong objections to CAPPS II.

Critics of CAPPS II say that rummaging through people’s personal lives every time they fly threatens individual liberties afforded everyone by the Constitution, and will undoubtedly lead to government abuse of the system by using the information gathered for purposes other than air safety.

Muslim and Arab leaders are concerned that religious and political activity may be used as factors in the rating. Also, they worry that immigrants who may be “out of status”, but are unaware, will be detained at the airport as a result of the new security procedure; and then deported without being given a proper hearing before a judge. 

For their part, activists are concerned that their participation in anti-war demonstrations or pro-Palestinian activities will make them targets of the roving CAPPS II “monster” since the classified information the TSA will use may come from sources such as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or even the Israeli Mossad.

The investigative arm of Congress, the General Accounting Office (GAO), is now reviewing all aspects of CAPPS II and will report back their findings to Congress. The TSA has set September 30 as their deadline for comments on the latest version of CAPPS II, and are scheduled to issue a final announcement of the program via the Federal Register at the end of the year.

For more information on the CAPPS II program, click here.

What’s your opinion? You may submit comments to the TSA regarding the CAPPS II program via e-mail at privacy@dhs.gov. Please reference docket number DHS/TSA-2003-1 in the subject line of the e-mail. If you wish to receive confirmation that DHS received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard. DHS will make the comments available online at http://www.dhs.gov.