'Trusted Traveler' aims to streamline flight security

IDG News Service - Symbol Technologies Inc., a major manufacturer of wireless data terminals and bar-code scanners used to track baggage and passengers at airports, is working with partner technology companies to develop a security screening system to identify airline passengers, a company executive said Friday.

The effort, called the Trusted Traveler System, would allow prescreened travelers to pass through airport security checkpoints quickly, avoiding the long lines and congestion that have become synonymous with airport security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Based on the group's preliminary plans, people who apply for the program would be prescreened by the airlines, having their profiles checked against a number of state and federal databases. Once at the airport, passengers would be identified, either with biometric devices such as hand scanners or with something as simple as a state driver's license. At that time, the system would be able to cross-reference the passenger's identification with resources such as the FBI watch list and a federal passenger profiling system known as Computer-Assisted Passenger Screening.

"It's hard to find the bad guys, but if we know who the good guys are, then we can streamline security for those people," said Tom Roslak, senior director of airport and airline applications at Holtsville, N.Y.-based Symbol.

Participating with Symbol are IT companies that make database software and manage system integration, Roslak said.

"We work with airlines and large integration partners to create the system. Our devices create a common fabric and are the eyes and ears of the system," he said.

The Washington Times and The Washington Post newspapers each reported last month that a federal effort is under way to develop a security ID card for airline passengers that would rely on biometric identification and be linked to government databases. The effort is headed up by a federal task force called the Credential Direct Agency Group (CDAG), the papers reported.

Symbol's system would use a similar approach. It could end up looking like a program used by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to speed international travelers through airports, according to Roslak. That system uses hand scanners to identify passengers who registered ahead of time in the security system.

The group will present its research to airlines and eventually to the Transportation Security Agency, a federal body created as a result of new airport security legislation, Roslak said.

The idea of passenger ID systems tied to federal databases has prompted some privacy advocates to cry foul. On Friday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a Washington-based advocacy