DHS Extends Comment Period For Int'l Passenger Screening System

The U.S. Homeland Security Department is postponing its comment period deadline for the Automated Targeting System until Dec. 29, following pressure from trade groups, privacy advocates and lawmakers. The new system for prescreening travelers to and from the United States assigns a threat-assessment ranking to international air passengers, but the rules for determining threat assessments and any redress for air passengers remains unavailable.

Several travel industry trade groups this week expressed concern about the program's lack of transparency, calling for further public review or suspension. The Business Travel Coalition, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and the National Business Travel Association likened the program to other prescreening systems that have been stalled or scrapped, namely CAPPS II and Secure Flight. NBTA said the system should stand up to many of the same standards that have prolonged the implementation of Secure Flight, including the address of privacy concerns, the creation of a redress process and tests of the system's accuracy and safety.

ACTE also stated concern about the lack of redress for travelers. "ACTE has always argued that a reasonable redress procedure must be an essential part of any government security program," ACTE president Greeley Koch said in a statement this week. "It has been conspicuously absent in CAPPS II, Secure Flight, the Registered Traveler program and now the Automated Targeting System. This is simply unacceptable."

Following the postponement of the comment period, Business Travel Coalition chairman Kevin Mitchell in a statement said, "This is good news, but only a start." BTC encouraged travel buyers to be signatories to a letter to DHS, while the association noted it is "working with U.S. and non-U.S. associations and privacy groups to develop strategy and plans."