Alexandria, VA. -Aug. 6 -- In a special meeting with Stephen J. McHale, Deputy Under Secretary of Transportation for Management and Policy of the Transportation Security Administration on August 4, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives emphasized its membership's concerns about the CAPPS II program, and offered association resources in resolving these issues. According to a statement issued by ACTE President Mark Williams, TSA convened the meeting to introduce the provisions of a modified CAPPS II program (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System), after the initial program drew criticism from privacy advocates, Congress and ACTE's membership.

"We're glad the TSA invited us -- and representatives of three other travel-related associations -- to participate in this high-level discussion," said Williams. "TSA presented us with a 19-page document outlining the proposed operation of the modified CAPPS II program and its objectives. We'll present it to our membership as soon as our government and industry affairs team has had a chance to study it."

At first reading, the scaled-back version of the CAPPS II program primarily differs from the initial concept in the depth of information that will be scanned and evaluated by the TSA. The administration currently plans to collect only the following information from passengers: full name, date of birth, home address and home phone.

This information is to be provided to TSA by all parties 72 hours in advance of departure. TSA will bounce the data off of a number of government and commercial database sources, yet to be disclosed. These databases will only be used to "ping" the data. TSA cannot store, capture or retain any of the information. The process will take 5 seconds and be similar to a credit check.

The system will flag each person with a code -- green, yellow or red. Green indicates a traveler is clear to proceed through the airport check point as normal. Yellow requires a passenger to submit to a more aggressive screening process. The red designation will trigger a process in which the passenger is escorted to a secure location for questioning. The goal is to have the levels encoded in the PNR (Passenger Name Record) data and placed onto the boarding pass.

"There are still a lot of unanswered questions and I don't think the TSA realizes how strongly this measure is apt to be opposed by business, as well as the traveling public," said Williams. "We have concerns that the manner in which the PNRs are handled might violate corporate information policies. This raises the old question of 'who owns your personal information and who has the right to see it?' At present, the program seems to offer little recourse for speedy resolution to the inevitable mistakes that will occur. One question not yet answered is who will be financially responsible for mistakes."

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives surveyed its U.S.-based members February 28, 2003, to determine the grass roots perspective of the initial CAPPS II program. Eighty-percent of the poll's respondents indicated CAPPS II was an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Seventy-nine percent thought that use of the program on a test basis would discourage travelers from using a particular airline. Sixty-four percent thought the program would discourage flying. And 82 percent stated they didn't trust the government not to use this information for "other" purposes.

Following the study of the new CAPPS II proposal, ACTE will present its membership with an industry analysis impact, and another survey -- with the intent of providing additional commentary to the TSA early in September.

For more information, contact:
Jack Riepe
Communications Director
t: 610-719-8396
c: 610-256-0124
e: [email protected]