Fergie's Tech Blog

TSA Unveils Planned Overhaul of Airport Screening

Ryan Singel writes on Wired News:

The federal government proposed Thursday to overhaul how airline passengers are screened against terrorist watch lists by taking over the process from airlines, and closing a long-known security hole that allows a person to evade extra screening using a fake boarding pass.

The new program, known as Secure Flight, would require airlines to forward itineraries to the government starting 72 hours before a flight. The Transportation Security Administration would then compare the names, dates of birth and gender against hundreds of thousands of names on the No-Fly and Selectee watch lists, and send the results back to the airlines.

Those who match or have details similar to a name on the Selectee list will get a boarding pass with a special code singling them out for extra screening. Individuals who don't match will be free to print a boarding pass at home, if the airline offers that option.

posted by Fergie @ 8/10/2007 10:06:00 AM