Feds Rate Travelers on How Likely They Are to be Terrorists

Without giving any notice to the public, federal agents have been clandestinely assigning computer-generated scores to travelers around the world rating the risk they pose of being terrorists or criminals. Travelers are not allowed to see or dispute these risk assessments, and the government intends to keep them on file for 40 years.

The existence of the program was revealed in November when the government described the Automated Targeting System (ATS) for the first time in the Federal Register, a detailed collection of federal rules. The Homeland Security Department calls the program "one of the most advanced targeting systems in the world," and says that the nation’s ability to spot security threats "would be critically impaired without access to this data."

The program assigns scores to people entering and leaving the Untied States after computer models assess their travel records. The program studies where they are from, how they paid for airline tickets, their past travel habits, their motor vehicle records, and even seating preference and what kind of meal they ordered. Civil liberties lawyers, congressional aids, and law enforcement officers said they thought the system was being applied only to cargo.

David Sobel, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group focusing on electronic data issues, told a reporter that ATS is probably the most invasive system the government has yet deployed, in terms of the number of people affected. Talking to the Homeland Security Department about ATS, Sobel said, "Some individuals will be denied the right to travel and many the right to travel free of unwarranted interference as a result of the maintenance of such material."

Government officials have not said whether or not ATS data has helped to apprehend any terrorists, but officials say that ATS data may be shared with foreign, state, and local governments for use in granting security clearances, contracts, licenses, and hiring decisions. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Bill Anthony said that border patrol agents refuse entry to about 45 criminals every day based on all the information they have about them, some of which probably comes from ATS.

The Homeland Security Department exempted ATS from many provisions of the Privacy Act that were designed to protect people from having secret government files that could possibly contain inaccuracies. As a result, travelers cannot determine whether or not the system has assessed them, and they cannot view their records for the purpose of determining whether or not they are correct. However, the department has pledged to review the exemptions over the next 90 days according to the public comments received about the system. As of Thursday, 15 public comments had been received, all of which opposed the system or criticized it.

A similar data-mining project for domestic air travelers was proposed by the Homeland Security Department two years ago, but lawmakers banned it from being implemented until it can pass 10 tests for privacy protection and accuracy.

The department says that 87 million people each year enter the country by air, and 309 people enter by land or sea. For all flights and ships entering and leaving, the government gets advance passenger and crew lists, and all of those names are entered into the ATS system for analysis. Jayson Ahern, an assistant commissioner of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection agency, said that the names of vehicle drivers and passengers are also entered when they cross the border into the U.S. Amtrak is voluntarily providing passenger data for trains to and from Canada. "If this catches one potential terrorist, this is a success," Ahern said.