FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - Appearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, the American Civil Liberties Union today urged Congress to end
two fatally flawed, airline passenger pre-screening systems operated by the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA): Secure Flight and the Registered
Traveler program. Both programs make America less safe while violating
travelers’ civil liberties.
"Commercial data can tell you if a person might be a credit risk, but it
cannot predict whether he or she will commit an act of terror at a future date,"
said Timothy D. Sparapani, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Basing our aviation
security on this faulty premise is as unwise as relying on alchemy or astrology.
Secure Flight and Registered Traveler have wasted nearly $200 million in public
funds, countless human hours, and have undergone several name changes and
repeated, unsuccessful reformulations of their underlying proposals. None of
this changes the fact that TSA has misdirected its limited resources toward
programs that not only make us less safer, but make us less free."
Sparapani appeared today before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation as that panel heard from the government and experts regarding
the TSA’s aviation passenger pre-screening programs. Both Secure Flight and
Registered Traveler are based on the dubious premise that information about
someone’s past credit history can accurately predict whether they may commit a
future act of aviation terrorism. Moreover, these programs assume that
terrorists would book tickets and board flights using their own names or known
aliases.
However, in 2003 alone, the Federal Trade Commission estimated that nearly 10
million people, or 4.6 percent of the adult population, were victims of some
form of identity theft. With such a faulty foundation, the ACLU argued, the
structure of both programs is bound to fail. This programmatic weakness leads to
what security experts dub "False Negatives," or an inability to detect actual
terrorists.
Additionally, many innocent Americans have already been wrongly tagged on
government maintained "no-fly" lists. Little information is available on how
these lists are maintained, and the redress process is almost non-existent. If
both Secure Flight and Registered Traveler are launched, there are also serious
concerns that the government would be creating centralized databases that are
filled with misinformation and potential targets for identity thieves.
Sparapani said that Congress must revoke TSA’s authority to proceed with both
programs, and could instead empower the TSA to redirect those funds to buy new
technologies that will effectively screen all luggage and cargo for weapons,
including plastic explosives.
"Secure Flight and Registered Traveler pose unacceptable risks to security,
civil liberties and privacy," added Sparapani. "Congress must reject these
programs, as it has done in the past. Aviation security must rely on proven
methods, and not ineffective programs that threaten our most private
information."
To read the ACLU’s testimony on the passenger pre-screening
programs, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/24113leg20060209.html
