Transportation turns to technology to track terrorists

Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael Jackson said Tuesday the Transportation Department will unveil a series of technology innovations in the coming months that will help the agency better track airline passenger manifests and determine who needs closer scrutiny.

Jackson said the new system would not be a type of racial profiling. Rather, it will make use of new analytical tools to help airlines gather information on individuals who are using the nation's transportation systems.

"The president ran on a campaign that said racial profiling is unacceptable, but we have to have tools of analysis on who is getting on plans...We need to gather more information," Jackson said at a Heritage Foundation lunch on the challenges of securing the nation's airports. "There will be some technology innovations [unveiled] in coming months that will make clear that innovations we are talking about."

The department is planning to build a gigantic database to monitor airline passengers and will employ biometric scanners linked to logic programs, according to news reports. In about a year, airlines also are expected to have access to law enforcement databases, so they will be aware of any criminal history of passengers. Among the companies that are vying for the database contract are IBM and Electronic Data Systems, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Jackson also said that Transportation would update software that runs the current Computer Assisted Passenger Screening system (CAPS), which is an industry-wide database that uses information from passengers' flight patterns to indicate whether they need to go through additional security. He did not say whether the CAPS upgrade would be a part of the database monitoring system that Transportation envisions.

Jackson noted that private-sector individuals from the high-tech sector and other industries have been working with the agency and government officials to help it form a roadmap for how the Transportation Security Administration should work.

The private sector advisers have formed a senior adviser program and include individuals from Cisco Systems, Disney, Federal Express, Fluor, Intel, Marriott and Solectron. Specifically, Jackson said an executive from Intel, who worked on Y2K procurement issues, is helping the agency develop a plan for procurement processes, but he declined to name the individual.

In another technology area, Jackson said Transportation would license the intellectual property that is used in bomb-detection machines to a single systems integrator, which will build, deploy and manage the machines at airports across the country.

Currently, only two companies make the machines, and they are unable to build machines fast enough to meet a deadline for the machines to be installed in every airport by the end of the year. Jackson said the systems integrator, which will be chosen within the near future, will help the agency meet its deadline. About 10 companies are likely to vie for the contract, he said.

Lastly, Jackson also noted that the Coast Guard is making progress in better information sharing. It has a created a "data infusion" center manned by employees of the Coast Guard, Justice and Treasury departments to share information on those using the nation's waterways.