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TSA Announces Pilot of Trusted Traveler Program
Bob the Super Hamste writes "CNN reports that the TSA has announced the pilot of their trusted traveler program. This is the program where an individual gives up additional information to the government and then gets expedited security. The pilot program will only be available to certain frequent fliers on Delta passengers flying out of Atlanta and Detroit, and to American Airlines passengers flying out of Miami and Dallas. Plans are in the work to expand this to other airports and other airlines as well."
Obviously I wouldn't put Detroit at the top of the "trusted travelers" list.
Oh well, government in action.
All other travelers presumed guilty.
Awesome.
This is a perfect solution that balances the public wish for appearance of freedom, with the government and corporate wish for the appearance of security.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Must've been trusted
We all know how this will go. Fewer lines will be allocated to normal lines, pushing people to give up tons of personal information in order to return to the speeds they previously had (as everyone will want the faster lines), instead of the skyrocketing time of the normal lines. It's the carrot approach to getting people to give up all their rights and personal information.
Until I am PROVEN GUILTY of not being one. I don't have to "opt in" for what should be my no-questions-asked constitutional rights.
Prove your innocence in order to fly -- so that's what American society has come to. Pfeh!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boondoggle_(project)
Step 1: Create new "elite program" requesting additional privacy invasion
....
Step 2: Initially limit ability into "elite program" to create artificial demand
Step 3: Make it more painful for those not in "elite program" to travel
Step 4: Create new "platinum elite program" requesting even more privacy information
Step n: All your base are belong to us
In all seriousness, this is the slippery slope everyone talks about.
Swallow first one poison in the name of security.
Now we're offered more poison in the name of a cure from the effects of the first.
This program is a way to force people through the full-body scanners because only people who reveal additional information will be allowed to use the hand wand.
When my doorbell rings and the Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons are on the doorstop, I tell them "No, thanks."
When the TSA offers to restore a small bit of the freedom I used to have anyway, but only after forcing me to give up something else, I say, "No, thanks, you intrusive motherfucking bastards."
Mom did try to raise a polite child, you know.
Are trusted travelers to pat themselves down or supposed to do a striptease? :)
Terrorists and other ne'er-do-wells begin active surveillance and recruitment of people who have previously gained "trusted traveler" status.
Translation: go find someone who's already got their "get out of grope" card, and arrange for *them* to carry the Happy Boom Blox.
Queue next terror attack on plane being perpetrated by one of these "trusted" travelers. Then the whole thing comes crashing down again.
Any terrorist with half a brain trying to plan an attack on an airplane now knows exactly how to do it: Forge an identity or recruit a new terrorist that can meet the Trusted Traveler requirements. Then use the Trusted Traveler identity to bypass the security that might catch your terrorist plot. Bruce Schneier writes a great deal about this: If you create an easier-than-standard path through security constraints, the bad guys, just like the good guys, will take the easier route, every single time.
I am officially gone from
This is nothing new. They had a program in 2009 called Clear to speed you through screening and it was abruptly shutdown without explanation. http://daggle.com/clear-airport-security-program-closes-707
It was then started again, but more limited. http://daggle.com/clear-airport-security-with-all-downsides-2179
So... how long will this incarnation last?
All that terrorists will do is bide their time a bit more, and do all the work necessary to get themselves into these trusted traveller programs, and then ultimately spring whatever trap they were planning... possibly many years later.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The fastest I ever got through security (well, second fastest after a commuter shuttle flight) was when I forgot my driver's license, was taken to the side, given a quick pat down, and sent through.
Doesn't trust open security whole? Who is going to guarantee that a person vetted today will not be compromised tomorrow? On the other hand, considering TSA is mostly theater, this program is probably not much of a concern.
It sounds interesting, but given their history I'm highly skeptical. I could see it improving things, but it all depends on two things.
a) How much and what information they're actually collecting (they didn't say):
The amount and nature of the information that will be sought was not disclosed.
I could easily imagine them requiring absurd amounts of information, such as full disclosure of banking accounts, family background information, etc., etc. Given that I'm sure they won't be trustworthy enough to store it safely, this could be a deal breaker for many (and have disastrous consequences when their database is hacked).
And b) What exactly this means:
Security experts have long expressed concern about so-called "clean skins" -- potential terrorists who enroll in "trusted traveler" programs to avoid scrutiny during a terror mission. But the TSA says it will continue to incorporate random and unpredictable security measures to address such concerns.
Random and unpredictable security measures even for "trusted travelers" sounds like it could make it not worth the effort. Furthermore, I can't imagine this program will last any longer than the first "close call" terrorist event where someone sneaks through using this program. So yeah . . . judgment reserved.
no, i do trust them to be incompetent and ineffective.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
White people.
It's like watching all of the scariest bits of 1984 and Brave New World all coming together.
A world in which citizens have no liberties, and think that's how it should be. The state controls everything and tells you what to think. McCarthyism meets the Keystone Kops.
If the Americans are voluntarily giving up all of their liberties for this farce of security ... then the rest of the world us screwed. Because governments which have slightly less compunction about running roughshod over their citizens will be quite willing to do this as well ... in fact, they'll be required to in order to allow a flight into the US. Give it time, and the US will require these like the other heightened security measures.
So, the great bastion of personal liberties is essentially leading the charge to stripping them away from themselves and dragging everybody else along with them. All in the name of protecting those very liberties they're giving up.
I grieve for what America used to stand for. I also grieve for how it bodes for the rest of us.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I've had this stupid Transport Worker Identification Credential smart card thing in my wallet for years now. I had to pass a background check and everything. If I can't use that DHS/TSA issued credential to skip security on flights under this trusted travel program, well, I guess what else should we expect form the government, efficiency?
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
I still think the TSA should be abolished and that no one should be subject to screening before any form of travel by the government.
Will this system be separate or does it allow for equivalences? I have friends in security with actual government clearances and deep background checks. I have a concealed carry permit which subjects me to a mild background check and regular automated checks for arrests, convictions, restraining orders, and other such naughty behaviours.
Of course lets not forget that I shouldn't have to dork around with any of this anyway. If I buy a ticket I should be allowed on the damn plane without a metal detector and without a screening unless that is part of the terms of the sale.
Were I a nefarious evildoer, I'd figure out who's on this list -- easy to do by observing who goes through the line -- then kidnap said person's family and threaten to do horrible things to them unless they took this package on board.
I mean, really. Does the TSA really think we're stupid enough not to see this for the security theater it so shamelessly is? Or do they simply not care any more?
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
Did you honestly think it was any more complicated than that? History has proven over and over again that the people who run the business of government are primiarily concerned with one thing: expanding their budget (or expanding their powers, which in turn will be leveraged to expand the budget).
It's not rocket science: the more money you control, the better positioned you are to exploit that cash flow for personal gain. After 200 years of this I would have thought it was obvious.
I'm sure the enhanced patdown will be able to find it.
I say it's only a matter of time till the "terroists" get into this program so they don't have to go through all the same stuff us "normal" citizens do. They already know how to get past the stuff we go though anyway...
We've had this for a little while in Canada, and it works quite well. What they've done is re-purpose the Nexus Card for security lines.
Nexus is a joint Canada-US initiative whereby applicants get pre-screened by both countries. If you are approved you can use self-declarations plus iris scanning (air) or RFID card (land) when entering Canada from anywhere or entering the US from Canada. The program is kludgy but it keeps getting improved. It costs $50 for five years and is absolutely indispensable for anyone who travels more than occasionally (saves about an hour every time you cross the border).
For airport security, what they've done in most major airports is create a special line for Nexus holders. Not only do you skip lining up with the great unwashed, but you also pass on the "dance dance revolution" pad that randomly selects passengers for the "you're going to miss you flight so that we can fondle your junk" line. Nexus lines are set up for domestic, transborder and international flights so you don't need to be entering the US.
It's not a perfect setup, since the use of a border-crossing card for domestic flights is a bit confusing. However, it's CATSA's first outbreak of common sense in years so overall it's a big step forward.
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
Every single one of us who are American Citizens are already in the system, so the feds can find out what they want about us regardless of whether we give our info to them through this program or not.
Boredom is bliss.
If you've ever worked for a company that is involved with certain government contracts you might have had to apply for a 'secret clearance'. There are of course many levels of this, but it does involve making all sorts of information available to the government to prove you are who you say you are. I would imagine that the level of clearance they are talking about for the trusted flier program is a few notches below that of a top secret clearance. My nephew recently got a job with a government agency requiring such a clearance that took several months to process (we don't know which agency, he isn't allowed to talk about that, but I assume one of the 'spooks' such as the CIA doing cryptology work).
Israel's El Al airline has the best safety record in the world, despite Israel, itself, being THE TARGET of MOST terrorists' absolute hatred. Obviously, the TSA needs to REALLY sit down with the people who run that airline's security, and LEARN SOMETHING!
They do this at border crossings already, don't they? Via the Nexus pass...
"Papers please..."
-- A computer without COBOL and Fortran is like a piece of chocolate cake without ketchup and mustard
Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.
-Xoltri
http://www.infowars.com/calls-for-tsa-chiefs-head-as-agency-now-denies-it-forced-removal-of-adult-diaper/
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/07/tsa-undermining/
etc...
It's just time for the TSA to go, next wannabe bomber to pull a razor blade on a US airplane will probably get thrown out the emergency door.
Except the whole point of the US Constitution is that lists the rights of the government, not the rights of the people. And prohibiting people from traveling in private transport is not one of them.
Does a plane take off in one state and land in another? If so, it's "commerce among the states" that the Congress has always been allowed to regulate.
'Cause my 8 year old just got denied at a TSA screening for having a snow globe in her carry on. I'm still trying to figure out the specific logic. It's not a blunt weapon, since you can take on all sorts of similar sized objects which could be used as blunt weapons. I'm not sure if it's glass, but if it is it would be no less of a weapon when broken than the mirror in my overnight bag if broken. It might be the liquid, but a globe is sealed and can't be opened without tools - which they won't let you carry on, so it can't be part of a binary (or higher) explosive to be combined int he air. (N.B.: it fit in a quart bag, though I'm sure there was more than 3oz of liquid in it) Of course, that would mean that it would have to be primary explosive...but they let us just check the bag, so they've let us put the explosive on the plane.
DHS spends $50B a year; Half a Trillion dollars since the WTC/Pentagon incident. I want my fucking money back.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I'm sure the enhanced patdown will be able to find it.
in the parent thread's case, I doubt it.
Unfortunately it isn't you whose rights are being violated because you don't have a constitutionally guaranteed right to fly on Delta's or American's planes. It is they whose rights are being abridged by the government making it mandatory on them to require that their passengers be screened by the TSA. And they aren't likely to sue to defend their rights. What we need is some airline to step up and refuse the TSA and then challenge it all the way up when they get shut down for it.
Under current jurisprudence, a right to travel is considered to exist. See Shapiro v. Thompson and Saenz v. Roe. Now, one might well say this doesn't mean a right to travel by plane. But, then, by what means does it guarantee this right? Train? Car? Pogo Stick? It seems reasonable to say that if I have the right to travel, then the state must have a compelling interest and reason to restrict a particular means of travel. It is on this point that we must discuss matters like due process, etc. It is not enough to say that we can arbitrarily restrict the activity of free citizens because the rules say so.
in order to fly in a plane, you require a plane... you expect the government to provide you with one?
i see you decided to fucking begin with ignorant hypocrisy.
keep exercising your right to cower in my shadow, feeb.
you're completely pathetic. yeah, that's right you are.
So all someone has to do to get easier security is hack their database and add their information in. Nice.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Ever. It's unpossible.
Yeah, it's a little bit of "divide and conquer" in the works here. 10, 15, perhaps 20% of air travelers get this "trusted" status. The rest of the herd has to tolerate the indignities, and obviously they deserve it. If they were "trustworthy", after all, they would be like "us", cutting in at the head of the line.
So, with a special class of elites to show off, the TSA will get away with yet greater indignities imposed on the unwashed masses.
Didn't Orwell work this same thing into his story?
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Yeah, the full body scanners raised privacy concerns, so obviously the answer is to volunteer our personal information to government, in exchange for not go through the scanner.
Palm trees and 8
You are absolutely correct. This is simply more government blackmail in disguise.
This system would establish a new class of people who are allowed to travel without question while most of the people are left to undergo "screening".
The system, even as ideally envisioned, is a breeding ground for abuse, because people who give even decently manufactured information to the TSA will get privileged access. Just like RFID passports, it gives the illusion of more security while actually reducing real security, because intelligent criminals will then be trusted without question.
The TSA needs to be abolished, not allowed to create discriminatory, security-harming policies.
There are enough people gathered in a tight wad at airport security lines these days to present a far tastier target for terrorist attack than the planes themselves. Imagine a wheelie-suitcase full of explosive (with whatever precautions would be necessary to evade the bomb-sniffing dogs outside the airport -- I'm sure with an appropriate program of multiple layers of airtight seals and thorough chemical washing this could be done) and shrapnel set off in the middle of a security line; you'd probably kill at least a hundred people and close down the airport for a long time, causing millions of dollars in economic damage. Set it off close to the front and you stand a good chance of ruining a lot of expensive x-ray equipment in addition.
Why go after the hard target when there are much easier fish to catch?
Couldn't they call it something besides a "pilot"?
True.
I'm glad this is around if they do it right, though--I know old people on islands who have to fly to get medical service, and what the fuck does the TSA think it's doing harassing them every time they fly?
If they do it wrong, e.g. if they apply it only to people with a security clearance, it may be time to sue the shit out of them. With Obama dead and the number of problems there have been, the Supreme Court might listen. Bring the case in the Ninth Circuit first.
For example, nobody with a Top Secret security clearance should have to undergo more than a cursory check. Their background, habits and the people they know have already been fully investigated.
Border guards in this country have about thirty seconds per person. Similarly, in the TSA context, if you can decrease the time you spend on low-risk individuals, you will increase the time you can spend screening people more likely to be dangerous. That means everyone but the people whom you evaluate as the lowest risk individuals will be harassed more, and you will have a better chance of catching people because you have more time to spend on high-risk individuals, if you ever actually catch people and if your ability to realize someone is a terrorist is a function of time spent with them.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Ethically indefensible, and yet another scenario ripe for abuse. You'll have to give the govt personal biometric data -- retinal scans, fingerprints, god knows what else (and sure, they'll never compromise that data!). Then you have to be a frequent flyer or just wealthy -- the rich can always get around rules that the rest of us have to follow. Otherwise, you're screwed. Why should people who can't afford to fly very often have to endure more scrutiny? Is it okay that the hoi polloi continue to get abused, as long as the wealthy aren't inconvenienced? And don’t you think that people with the patience and fortitude to plan 9/11 will also be able to get around this system? Furthermore, even those who do agree to provide all this info will still be subject to more invasive searching if the TSA finds an "anomaly." That's their all-purpose trigger for abuse now; it's not going to change once this so-called Trusted Traveler system is in place. Here's an idea -- in honor of the late, great Color Code Terror Threat alert system, let’s just slap a big ol' orange sticker on the "risky" travelers. Yeah, history has never shown us anything like that before!
I think it has more to do with the poster being a bigot -- because Detroit has the highest muslim population in the US.
They should make tiered "services" available:
- lowest level: they should make it mandatory for everybody to be stripped and searched in public.
- medium level: pat down with clothes on, they have to pay a premium fee (wardrobe adjustment fee or privacy fee).
- highest level: the trusted travel program with more fee.
...intended to present-day Germans, but the definition of "trusted traveler" sounds way too much like "Good German" to me.
This means that the highly resourceful people who may have enough influence to change the system out of personal annoyance with the whole thing will now be appeased by by-passing the security theater. Then the only people left to be annoyed are the people who don't have the influence to hurt the TSA. It's brilliant in an evil mustache twirling sort of way.
Oh please people, "blahblah I don't want my child to be touched" screw you! You'd rather have a whole plane explode and everyone else inside die? You should be judged for treason you ignorants!
Just buy your kid an X-Box after the flight and he won't be traumatized. TSA are professionals anyway, they are trained experts and know what they are doing. Stop endangering everyone because you place your kid's above all else all the time. When I hear reactions like this, it makes me think the government should take away more freedom because clearly you people can't use your freedom properly. The government is not taking away freedom or rights anyway, it is GIVING US the freedom and rights to fly safely!
And if you don't like being touched, then there's always the X-Ray scanner. Now stop trying to make the world a dangerous place for all of us!
I can't believe such ignorant people are allowed to vote...
Oh and you're really lucky you are still allowed to fly after you complain about security so much. The government should list you as terrorists.
voluntarily giving up all of their liberties for this farce of security
A person cannot volunteer to be subject to coercion (i.e. physical force or threat thereof), just as a person cannot coerce another person into volunteering. The two modes of human interaction, voluntary association and coercion, are mutually exclusive and opposite. That is, in fact, what gives them meaning: they are defined as the inverse of each other.
Any instance of human interaction must fall into exactly one of these two modes. It cannot fall into both modes simultaneously. The idea of volunteeing oneself to be subject to coercion isn't just logically impossible -- it's malicious, deceitful, and extremely dangerous.
I am going to Godwin this shit, but didn't Nazi Germany have some program in place similar to this? Members of a certain, "party," were given conveniences and breaks in a manner that made their lives easier than others, while non-members of said party were treated like crap? Is that really the direction we want to take air travel in what is supposed to be the Land of the Free?
Seriously, fuck you TSA.
No group of citizens should be considered more equal than the other groups.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
Extortion is where it's at!
A trusted traveler program? This is bound to get into discrimination/racism problems. That's the thing with profiling: it's institutionalized prejudice.
I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
The last thing you want to do is publicly identify those with security clearance. Those with clearances should blend in, not stick out -- being allowed to the front of a line of irritable un-screened passengers would open too many questions of "Who's this guy?"
Yep!
Everyone alive can be turned into walking bombs!
Sodium Peroxide is an Oxidizer, and everyone produces nice half-pound lumps of moisty stuff which will catch on fire!
Now they will have to pass a law requiring enemas to fly!
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
This worked out really well for the collaborators last time:
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/06/26/1435209/Out-of-Business-Clear-May-Sell-Customer-Data
I'll say it again: Do extra, voluntary action to cooperate with the police state in legitimizing the "papers please" nonsense, and get exactly what you deserve.
It started as a simple excuse to lock you into your ticket purchases. It still has that negative effect, and not a single positive. After all, matching ID to ticket had been done for decades leading to, and of course on, 9/11.
One of the current illegal practices at airports is how first/business/elite passengers get directed to use a different, shorter line ahead of the TSA checkpoint compared to the economy passengers. Legally, this is not legal at all. Officially, they claim it's okay because "TSA controls the checkpoint,. the airlines control the line going to the checkpoint" which is transparent BS even Alito/Scalia wouldn't let fly.
The fact that nobody's sued the airlines/TSA for this violation of equal-protection makes me wonder what's up with the ACLU.
Has anyone considered this being a major flaw in this system? It's potentially one in the current system. When you go through security now all they do is look at your ID, your ticket and you. As long as the name on the ticket matches the name on the ID and the picture on the ID matches you, they send you through.
Will this new system require some sort of password or will it rely on the same insecure methods we use today to verify ID?
Now there's a valid complaint.
Yes, there are a ton of enhanced IDs that the government already issues, and it should be a piece of cake to use one to get another.
But it's probably illegal for the agencies to share the info between them.
Yours is from the same agency and it should be cake, but, it's much, much easier to ask the individual for the information than to try to have it shipped over from another office. Add another "much".
Al Gore tried to rectify that, but making things all-electronic didn't necessarily guarantee that any two databases used the same schema. Still easier to input the data to the fields you have. And it ensures you get the right data, because, as this problem itself demonstrates, when you start with just a name you can end up with multiple peoples' info, some of it just because of typos and bit-rot.
And it ensures you've been deliberate about making the contract implied by applying for the ID.
The only real way around it is to have a One True Database of identities, issued at birth. But such a thing sends the privacidiots into apoplexy every time the scent of it wafts across the water. So efficiency is deliberately discouraged in government.
Wow, I don't know what to say other than you're a retard who has no idea how the constitution really works.
I have flown a few trips around the world. The rest of the world is a lot easier to move around than here.
Lets make it a little more difficult to travel in the US.
The government has temporary powers, granted to them by the people
Try telling that to the Confederate States of America.
Fuck the TSA. Disband them and charge Janet Napolitano for manufacturing child porn and ordering multiple acts of sexual assault.
I think, these guys aren't original at all. It's like watching Rocky movie sequels. Every plot (revenge) is same, methods (bomb/hostage) are same, entry of attacks are same (exploiting gaps), and subplots (demands) are same. At this point, I'm not really sure if it should be even categorically filed under "terror" or "TSA" anymore. Perhaps categorized under "Trial-and-Error"...
What would be original though is if a terror act so original, nothing is blown, only our minds. Like "WOW, I am impressed and terrorized at the same time by the display of originality". For instance, terrorist abducts Snooki and "Situation", and force them to learn method acting. Then the terrorist returns them as greatest method actors ever known. Later, the terrorist's plot unfolds as Snooki and "Situation" win the Oscar nomination, upsetting the balance of Universe.
TSA in turn can implement new security policy called "Water Fall" which provides all passengers with mandatory 1 liter drink beverages and alcohol 1 hour before boarding the plane and force passengers to listen to the sound of heavy water fall in the waiting area. Then if the passenger needs to go bathroom before boarding, the bathroom will be fitted with body scanner.
Obviously things like this will never happen because of their lack of understanding and originality.
"Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
How long until the TSA and Govt. wants to CHIP us? We all know it's coming....
The Trusted Traveler Program looks like a door with a lock that's waiting for a criminal to pick it.
Governments have tried for centuries to figure out a way to positively identify people and they've never been able to do it, which makes the whole system useless when it's purpose is to stop crime. Are we to believe that the Trusted Traveler Program will work while, at the same time, FBI Top Ten Most Wanted serial murderers like mobster Whitey Bulger are able to travel freely across the U.S. and across international borders using fake IDs and fake passports which are available to anyone with the incentive?
Bulger offers new details to authorities
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/06/26/report-whitey-bulger-traveled-to-mexico-several-times-to-get-medicine/
TSA/DHS annual budget: 43.1 billion.
NASA annual budget: 17.3 Billion.
We'd rather molest the children than secure their future.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Oh how I wish! I've been hoping they would let TWIC holders bypass TSA security at airports since I got my card a couple of years ago.
Tangent: I had to get the card for my job and was rather unhappy at having to surrender my fingerprints to the government. I spent a while digging through their documentation online to find out what happens to my personal data (fingerprints) after my card expires. The short answer is, they haven't decided yet what they'll (pretend) to do with the data when the card expires. Also, yours and my fingerprints were sent to multiple government security agencies for that background check. Can I assume those agencies are going to delete my information once they are done with the background check? Sadly, no :-(
Not like anyone cares, but I found the new and improved final ruling about data retention:
TSA will retain the data it receives in accordance with record schedules approved by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). TSA will retain records for individuals who are not a match or potential match to a watchlist for one year after the individual no longer has access. In addition, for those individuals who may originally have appeared to be a match to a watch list, but subsequently cleared, TSA will retain the records for at least seven years, or one year after access has been terminated. For individuals who are an actual match to a watch list or otherwise determined to pose a threat to transportation security, TSA will retain the records for 99 years, or seven years after TSA learns that an individual is deceased.
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_tsa_twic_fr.pdf
> This program is just a tactic of getting people to give up what the government wanted all along: personal information.
The part I don't understand is this: why does the government want to see me naked? Seriously, what are they thinking!?
They now all use JPAS. For example, from Bruce:
"and is transferred by a classified message to other organizations when that person travels on official business."
Not necessarily. It can just take a quick entry into JPAS on the sending side and an accompanying look-up on the receiving side. In fact, the government needs to get it all standardized regardless of any relation to the airlines. Security will be vastly enhanced if any agency can immediately look up a clearance.
And I'm not talking about showing security clearance paperwork every time you board a plane as Bruce was. If they are going to pre-clear passengers and enter that clearance into their own system, they should take a federal security clearance in lieu of their own investigation. Fill out a form, a quick look-up in JPAS (or equivalent), and you're on the list. It's a matter of efficiency in government, not doing the same thing twice.
They don't know if the reason for your being on the TSA quick list is a government security clearance or a TSA investigation.
You have little choice in any of this, whereas the rest of us can elect to avoid visiting the USA.
No, it implies other travelers they're presumed unknown (i.e. there's no presumption at all).
*IF* passenger screening is a good idea, subsidized by the government to inhibit a secondary ticket marke-- oops I mean -- funded by the government in the interests of public safety, then whitelisting is a good idea for making it faster and less expensive.
Imagine you're a TSA administrator and word comes down from above that you have to screen passengers. You would do this. You'd have to be crazy or incompetent not to want to.
If we don't like it, then we need to have a different word come down from above onto TSA's head (or just disband TSA altogether). The elected official the TSA ultimately accounts to is the president, and there happens to be a presidential election next year. Just sayin'. Maybe we should get some statements/promises from candidates...
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Normally, I am a staunch nonbeliever in either selling my privacy away, or on the flip side, paying to keep my privacy.
I don't join "shoppers' discount clubs", since I don't want a store tracking my purchases.
When Florida (where I live) had a statewide do-not-call list, I refused to join it, since I was not going to pay $5-10 for the "privilege" of not receiving sales calls. I'd put up with as many as six sales calls per day. When the federal do-not-call list came out (2005 or so), it was free, and the sales calls dried up almost immediately.
It's pretty obvious what's going on here. Eliminating the TSA is politically unfeasible is any Members of Congress want to be re-elected--there's simply too much pressure to keep it like it is. TSA employees and their families. The companies that make the pornoscanners--and their employees and families. A still-fearful public that actually believes that restoring airport security to pre-9/11 levels will result in more successful 9/11s, shoe bombs, and/or underwear bombs.
For so-called "kettles" that fly only once per year or less, they're happy to enter pornoscanners and get groped, because "the next passenger might be a terrorist". The biggest critics of the TSA are frequent fliers who see the security theater is really is.
(FWIW, I'm an odd outlier. I'm a infrequent flier--8 round trips in the past 10 years--and I see the TSA for the security theater it really is. I've begrudgingly tolerated the shoe carnival, and even though I have yet to see a pornoscanner in person, I won't go into one. Should the USA ever become 100% pornoscan with no opt-out, I simply will not fly, full stop.)
They're placating the frequent travelers--look, here's a "trusted traveler" card to let you go through security like it was September 10. The "anything for security" infrequent fliers will see the TSA clerks doing the dog and pony show, and think "Look! Security!", and not really mind the "Trusted" fliers zipping through the fast lane, since they have "Trusted" status. In any case, infrequent fliers are used to seeing frequent fliers get the express lanes at check-in and boarding.
What do I want to see? I want to see the TSA eliminated and security restored to pre-9/11 levels--walk-through metal detectors, luggage X-rays for checked and carry-on, and security personnel hired and fired by the airport authorities following the FAA's pre-9/11 rules. And no boarding pass to go through security.
However, this is a much lesser of two evils, and I'll be the first person out there with my Global Entry card. At $100 for 5 years, and assuming one round-trip flight per year, that's $10 for each opportunity to not have to do the shoe carnival, the pornoscanner, or the Freedom Grope. Just like how paying extra can get you the faster line at check-in and boarding.
Yet another concession of living in the USA. I'd really rather not have a car, but the USA has been rigged to practically force car ownership unless you live in certain areas. That's a racket you can write a book about.
Worst slashdot troll in years. Dr. Bob > You.
I sure hope that TSA chose Captain Clarence Oveur for their pilot. There is no one who is better suited to that role.
Will
Any word on travelers announcing a "trusted agency" program?
Meh, I spent 10 years in the military with a TS/SCI clearance, and doubt I will ever have this preferred status.. I shouldn't have to work to prove my background after they spent so much money looking into it already.... I should just be able to give them my ID and they should see that I was trusted greatly at one time, and still know stuff that would be considered damaging to the US if it went out, and I have no intention to say any of it.
Fuck the TSA.
TSA allowing passengers to bypass extended security.
One of the reasons I don't fly as I have no desire to be patted down. I prefer to take a few extra days and travel by vehicle. That way I get to meet friendly humans, and to eat in various restaurants. And I have an advantage. I am 70+ so I don't need to be in the other end of the country a few hours later, or suffer the indignity.
Not one person was ever stopped at a checkpoint for whatever they are doing, except the religious sikes who carry the miniature dagger.
...do not deserve neither of them.
Wait, now you can give up privacy for freedom, which you gave away for security.
"Are you kidding me? I've given up privacy for a Klondike bar".
Guess the questions will be like: "are you a terrorist?". "do you like america?". "what's your religion?".
Model answer for trusted passengers: "what's a terrorist?". "fuck yeah, USA!". "Uhhh someone died for me".
Model answer for sure non-trusted: "what do you mean by terrorist?". "Sure, Love Canada, US, Brasil and all the rest!!". "Same as yours! There's only one god after all".