Mired in controversy over its plans
to gather information on passengers using intelligence, law
enforcement and commercial databases, the TSA issued this news
release to ANN in hopes of clearing things up a bit:
Myth: CAPPS II will be the first national intelligence
gathering database.
Fact: CAPPS II is not an intelligence gathering database. It is
a prescreening system that will assess the likelihood that
travelers are who they claim to be and perform a risk assessment to
detect individuals who may pose a terrorist-related threat or who
have outstanding Federal or state warrants for crimes of
violence.
CAPPS II modernizes an existing program that was created in 1997
as an additional measure to help prevent a terrorist attack on
passenger aircraft. In the wake of September 11th, Congress,
through the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA)
directed the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to
improve the system.
CAPPS II will only retain data for a short period after the
completion of a US person’s itinerary. The system simply does
two things:
(1) It assesses the identity of every passenger by matching
limited information about the traveler (including name, date of
birth, address, and phone number) with commercially available
information. This check is done between databases outside of a
government firewall. CAPPS II will not bring any information
contained in the commercial databases into the government’s
system and the commercial databases are prohibited from keeping or
using the information provided by CAPPS II.
(2) CAPPS II also performs a risk assessment, including a check
against lists of terrorists and known or suspected threats, to
detect individuals who may pose a terrorist-related threat or who
have outstanding Federal or state warrants for crimes of
violence.
Once the system has computed a traveler’s risk score, it
will send an encoded message to be printed on the boarding pass
indicating the appropriate level of screening. Eventually, this
information is planned to be transmitted directly to screeners at
security checkpoints.
Myth: Once I buy a plane ticket,
CAPPS II will seek out information about my life (travel patterns,
purchases, living habits).
Fact: CAPPS II will not use data mining techniques to profile
and track citizens. Except for the slightly expanded Passenger Name
Record (PNR) data that air carriers and reservation systems will
collect, CAPPS II will not collect additional personal information
about the traveler. In addition, with rare exceptions, all data
created by the CAPPS II system, including risk scores, will be
destroyed shortly after the completion of a US person’s
travel itinerary.
Myth: Once CAPPS II is put in place I will have to submit a
significant amount of personal information when I book a
flight.
Fact: CAPPS II will require PNR information from the airlines,
which will be required to include information such as full name,
home address, home phone number, and date of birth.
Myth: Airline employees will be able to view my personal
information when I check in for a flight.
Fact: Airline employees already see the PNR that is in an
airline’s system. The difference with CAPPS II is that
airlines will be required to include a passenger’s full name,
home address, home phone number, and date of birth in the
passenger’s PNR. The only CAPPS II data to be printed on a
passengers’ boarding pass will be an encoded field that
indicates what level of screening should be conducted.
Myth: If I have bad credit I will be flagged in CAPPS II.
Fact: CAPPS II will not review credit worthiness, as it has no
correlation to whether an individual is a terrorist or other
security risk.
Myth: If I have moved recently or use a Post Office Box as my
address I will be flagged by CAPPS II.
Fact: CAPPS II uses a number of public commercial databases to
confirm your identity. A simple address change alone would not
elevate an individual’s risk score.
Myth: CAPPS II will track where and
when I travel and will store that information.
Fact: For US persons, information will only be kept for a short
period after completion of the travel itinerary, and then it will
be permanently destroyed. The prescreening process will be
conducted anew each time you fly.
Myth: If I am flagged for secondary screening I will be
questioned by local law enforcement.
Fact: Under the current CAPPS I, certain individuals are
already flagged for secondary screening at the TSA checkpoint.
Under CAPPS II, a much smaller percentage of all travelers will be
flagged for secondary screening by TSA. Furthermore, it is only
those who are assessed as a high risk who will be referred to law
enforcement, not those flagged for secondary screening.
Myth: If the system flags me as a threat to aviation I will
have no recourse to verify that I am not a threat.
Fact: With CAPPS II, there will be a redress process
established, to include a Passenger Advocate. The Passenger
Advocate will focus on assisting passengers who feel that they have
been incorrectly or consistently prescreened. Since CAPPS II will
be a centralized government-run system, rather than a decentralized
system implemented by over 70 airlines, CAPPS II will provide the
opportunity for a more efficient and effective disposition of
passenger complaints. The passenger authentication process that
CAPPS II will provide will eliminate many of the mistaken identity
situations that airline travelers currently face under the
pre-screening system that the airlines now operate.
Myth: CAPPS II will use racial profiling to identify travelers
who pose a threat.
Fact: CAPPS II will absolutely not profile based on race,
ethnicity, religion or physical appearance.
Myth: Contractors working for TSA will be able to use my
personal information for commercial or for-profit uses (for
example, sell my personal information to car companies).
Fact: TSA contractors are contractually prohibited from selling
or retaining a passenger’s personal information for
commercial purposes.
Myth: CAPPS II will run a criminal background check on every
passenger.
Fact: No, CAPPS II will NOT run a criminal background check on
every passenger. Instead, CAPPS II will perform an identity
authentication and a risk assessment. Specifically, CAPPS II will
do two things:
It will assess the identity of every
passenger by matching limited information about the traveler,
including name, date of birth, address, and phone number, with
commercially available information. This check is done between
databases outside of a government firewall. CAPPS II will not bring
any information contained in the commercial databases into the
government’s system.
CAPPS II also performs a risk assessment, including a check
against lists of terrorists and known or suspected threats, to
detect individuals who may pose a terrorist-related threat or who
have outstanding Federal or state warrants for crimes of
violence.
Myth: If a passenger has several speeding tickets or
misdemeanors on his/her record, does this mean that he or she
cannot fly?
Fact: No, a speeding ticket or misdemeanor in and of itself
will not bar a passenger from flying. CAPPS II will assess a
passenger’s identity and perform a risk assessment. The
aggregated information will determine screening level. In the rare
instances where a particular traveler has been identified as having
known or suspected links to terrorism, or an outstanding warrant
for violent criminal behavior, appropriate law enforcement officers
will be notified.
Myth: TSA cannot move forward in its plans for CAPPS II until
the GAO report that Congress requested is issued on February
15.
Fact: The current legislation states that TSA can move forward
in testing CAPPS II. CAPPS II is scheduled to be implemented after
testing and after Congressional requirements are met.
Myth: CAPPS II can be easily thwarted by identity fraud.
Fact: The CAPPS II design includes an information-based
identity assessment process similar to what is done today in the
commercial sector when, for example, a person purchases a cellular
telephone, opens a bank account, or acquires a credit card. This is
a substantial addition to the current identity verification
process.
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