On CAPPS II and Privacy

I've been thinking about national security for a while now, and our responses to the threat of terrorism. I've come to the conclusion that 95% of the response has been enhancements in law enforcement for normal crimes, and little or no response that actually deals with the threat of terrorism.

The PATRIOT act has yet to be used against a terrorist. It, however, has been used by Federal prosecutors in an investigation of prostitution in New Orleans. Justice department prosecutors have been instructed to use it aggressively for prosecuting any crimes that fall under it, not just terror crimes. The extensions of PATRIOT signed into law last December allow the FBI to "execute warrants without court approval to follow suspected terror finances through pawnshops, casinos, travel agencies and other venues not traditionally considered financial."

Note that this also means that they can go demand financial records from just about anybody, without a judge's signature, as long as it says they are for a counter-terrorism investigation.

Now, the Federal government is going to force airlines to give personal information of travelers to the government for screening. This screening, the CAPPS II program, will compare traveler information to information in databases of financial records, public records, wanted criminal lists, and terrorism databases. People rated as "Red" will not be allowed to travel, will be questioned by police, and probably arrested. According to the Transportation Security Administration, 1 to 2 percent of travelers will be rated "Red". As I wrote last September, this means that between 16,000 to 32,000 people every day getting questioned and arrested. But a person with a clean record will be rated "Green." Usually, when one of these new programs is rolled out, the government says how many of the September 11 terrorists would have been prevented from boarding because of the new program. No number has been specified for this. From this, I think it's not out of line to say that all of the terrorists would have been allowed to board.

Oh, and persons who are rated "Yellow" (subject to additional screening and questioning) and "Red" will not be given a reason for the rating, will not be told what database was used, and will not be able to challenge the rating, as we can right now with our credit report.

Let's compare this to a similar program. To register your car in Washington, D.C., they have what they call a "clean hands" program, where every fine, every traffic incident, every item of negative public record must be taken care of before you can register your car there. One woman was forced to pay a speeding ticket from many years ago that she said she had paid, because she couldn't produce a receipt for it. Plus penalties. Will we be keeping people off of flights because unpaid parking tickets? Unpaid child support? Hey, it's a crime, after all.

They told us last September that they would force airlines to give up this information. I guess they thought we'd forget if they wait to announce it until January. I want our airline security focused on airline security, not distracted by law enforcement.

Meanwhile, we've started fingerprinting and photographing most of the tourists to the United States. This won't stop Osama bin Laden, of course. We don't have his fingerprints on file. This program, according to TSA, might have stopped "as many as 2" of the 19 September 11 terrorists. Or, on the other hand, 17 would still be able to come into the United States.

Finally, I have been ranting about the lack of screening of air cargo for months now. This cargo rides in the belly of passenger planes, right next to our luggage. Trans-Atlantic flights have huge containerized loads. Domestic flights may have a container, or a few boxes. Other people have written about it, blue-ribbon panels have studied it, and called for screening. And still air cargo is not being screened for explosives. Why not? Because it would be burdensome to the businesses who ship air cargo. I resent having the burden put on me for airline security, and no burden put on business.