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Show AS NATION lhe Salt. Lake Tnbune Air travelers face even more scrutiny Security: New profiling system would verify identities, analyze the life of every passenger By CHARLES PILLER AND RICARDO ALONSOZALDIVAR Lon Angeles Dunes A secret computer program detected something suspicious about the middle-aged passenger heading to Hugene, Ore He traveled often, usually taking one-wayflights on short notice. In the months following the Sept. li attacks, every time he tried to boarda flight in Portland, he was pulled out of line and searched as a possible terrorist threat The passenger was Peter De Fazio congressman from Oregon, former Air Forceofficer and ranking Democrat on the House subcommittee overseeing airline security “My constituents found it very amusing,” DeFazio said. It soon becameless humorous when he learned he could stop triggering the security checks by simply joining a frequent flier program, a trick that in the computer’s mind transformed him from a suspect into a trusted customer “A terrorist can’t figure that out?” DeFazio asked Since the Sept. 11 attacks, creating an effective system to screen out both known terrorists and would-be hijackers plotters with spotless records but nefarious intent from millions of airline passengers has become a top priority in the war against terrorism. But as DeFazio’s experience showed, even the most elaborate current computer systems stum ble whentrying to decipher hu man motivations, and, like any security scheme, have been per petually vulnerable to being gamed. In the face of such challenges, the federal government has em barked on a costly program to create a second-generation profiling system designed to verify the identity of every passenger and analyze their lives through a “black box” of government intel ligence and law enforcement da tabases. Though details of the estimated 370,000 per day, for hand luggage searches andextra security checks. That is an increase from 5 percent in 2001, ac cording to the TSA But casting such a wide net part of the U.S. program. “They are dealing with enemies who are human beings. Human beings will always beat the technology,” Einav said. No computer-based system has ever verifiably thwarted a hijacking or bombing, according to federal and private security experts. But given the enor mousnessofthe task, the airline industry’s current system, the Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening system, or CAPPS, has occasionally shown flashes ofbrilliance. Its greatest success may have been on Sept. 11, 2001. In the 24 hours leading up to the hijackings, CAPPS checked more than 1.8 million passengers. It actually flagged six of the 19 terrorists later involved in the hijack ings, according to the national commission on the Sept. 11 at tacks. About 92,000 innocent travelers were also singled out. Unfortunately, only a brief luggage check for explosives and weapons was required. The hi jackers, and the then-legal box cutters several were carrying, wereall welcomed aboard their flights. CAPPS was deployed in 1998, following the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island two years earlier. It was part of a package of anti-terrorism measures put in place, including baggage X-rays and bombsniffing dogs, even though mechanical failure was later blamedfor the crash The system largely relies on government watch lists and pas senger travel histories. It pro vides a relatively rudimentary checkthat the industry designed as a compromise between maintaining efficiency in boarding passengers and finding possible terrorists, said consultant Dou glas Laird, former security director for Northwest Airlines, who helped develop CAPPS. Laird praised CAPPS for targeting nearlya third of the Sept 11 hijackers. “Whatfailed on 9-11 was thefollow-up,” he said. After the events of Sept. 11 exposed CAPPS’ weaknesses, the airlines and the government tried to compensate by hedging their bets Thursday, October 9, 2003 can overwhelm the system, resulting in long delays at the airport The government believes the best way to increase security and efficiencyis to create a more advanced computer system. CAPPS Il, an upgrade expected to cost more than $105 million, is designed to transform a few simple database searches into an omniscient eye on terrorism. In addition to checking travel records, CAPPS II would require each passenger to provide his name, birthdate, home address and phone number. Clearly Worth Soumyslaree How do you treat your ° Plan ahead and use f existing restrooms. water? ° Stay out of streams and lakes. ° Pets are not allowed You wouldn't dream ofletting your * kids splash around in your drinking water, or allowing your dog to urinate in it. Butinreality, that’s exactly whatwe're doing. That's because here along the It takes less than 24 hours for Wasatch Front we get most of our water to go from the mountains to drinking water from the mountains — our “protected watersheds”of City Creek Canyon, Parleys, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. In fact our beautiful Wasatch canyons attract millions of visitors each year making the WasatchCacheoneof the most popular nationalforests in the country. That's whyit’s vital we all follow a few simple rules to makesure that we keep our drinking water ItPure the watershed. sources clean and pure Salt Loke City Public Utilities flagging 15 percent to 20 percent of travelers, an system are secret, security ex perts believe that more than 100 factors will be used to sniff out terrorists based on telephone records, travel patterns, lawenforcement files and other sources. The system will turn the new federal Transportation Security Administration into one of the most intrusive government agencies, perhaps secondonly to the Internal Revenue Service, investigating about 70 million passengers who take 675 million trips byair annually And possibly, all for an illu sion of security “TheU.S. is so muchoriented toward a technology solution that the people are serving the technology,” said Offer Einav, former director of security for Israel's national airline, El Al, widely considered the world’s most secure carrier. 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