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New Controversy Dogs TSA Chief

TSA Not On Board with Registered Traveler Programs

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 1, 2007

The TSA, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, has been under fire since its creation – not only for undertraining, underpaying, and understaffing but also for changing rules and regulations so frequently that customers can’t keep track.

Now comes a new wrinkle: TSA chief Kip Hawley says he won’t play ball with a new program designed to shorten security lines by pre-screening passengers who pay for it.

Members of the program pay a fee to undergo thorough background checks and receive ID cards enabling them to walk through designated high-speed airport security lanes. But Hawley thinks that poses new security risks.

Testifying before Congress, Hawley hauled off on the Registered Traveler program, suggesting terrorists could pass the background checks and use its ID cards for nefarious purposes. That drew the ire of House Homeland Security Members as well as the chief executive officer of one of the firms that offers Registered Traveler services.

Members of both parties, including Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton and Republican Dan Lungren, blasted the TSA chief for his comments and urged the agency to move faster in approving Registered Traveler security lanes at more airports.

New York attorney Steven Brill, whose Verified Identity Pass launched a successful test of its Clear program in Orlando two years ago, says his system would move passengers more quickly if he gets government approval to add a newly-developed shoe-scanner to its existing technology. Although such a device would make it unnecessary for passengers to remove footwear, he needs TSA consent first.

That won’t happen unless the TSA gets on board: all Registered Traveler systems must be approved and tested by the TSA before installation.

Clear, the largest of several Registered Traveler programs, has more than 53,000 paying members. Each pays about $100 per year for the intense background check and ID card.

Brill’s concept has expanded beyond Orlando to JFK, Newark, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, San Jose, with Albany, Little Rock, Westchester County, LaGuardia, Atlanta, Denver, Washington Dulles, Washington National, San Francisco, and Toronto coming soon.

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