Technology to play prominent role in aviation security

The Federal Aviation Administration must test the security benefits of biometrics or other technologies in at least 20 airports under the aviation-security bill President Bush signed into law Monday. The biometrics language is just one of several technology-related provisions in the law.

"Thanks to this bill, we have a new commitment to security in the air," Bush said during a signing ceremony at Washington Reagan National Airport--the last U.S. airport to be reopened after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "Security comes first. The federal government will set high standards, and we will enforce them."

FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, and some House and Senate lawmakers joined Bush at the event.

Congressional debate over the bill, S. 1447, emphasized issues such as making the baggage screeners at U.S. airports federal employees and hiring more air marshals for commercial flights. But the new law also is laden with tech language.

The biometrics language requires the FAA to consider the deployment of technologies that identify individuals and to test it in a pilot program. Groups such as the American Association of Airport Executives recently touted biometrics technologies in testimony before Congress. The group also has called for the Defense Department to reevaluate classified technologies to see if they can be put to use in airports.

The aviation-security law also establishes a council to coordinate intelligence, security and criminal enforcement activities with the intelligence community, and it directs the Transportation secretary to explore using wireless or wireline data technologies to transmit potential aviation threats to a common database of suspected terrorists. The database would be connected to other federal and state agencies.

The law also requires all airlines to secure their computer reservation systems against unauthorized access.

The FAA must periodically review potential aviation threats and analyze its systems to weigh the possibility of cyberattacks that could disrupt their operations. Air carriers must expand their use of the Computer-Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System to cover all passengers.

The law authorizes money for the FAA to conduct research and development on, and testing and evaluation of, security technologies. And it authorizes the FAA to issue research grants for longer-term airport security improvements, secure networking and the sharing of information about aviation threats among federal agencies and law enforcement.

The statute also calls for: the use of video monitors, voice-stress analysis and other technologies to pinpoint disturbances; the electronic transmission of the names, birth dates, passport numbers and other relevant information of each airline passenger and crew member; and the use of technology to allow "trusted passengers" to bypass long security checkpoints.

Groups such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors have urged the federal government to help states and localities fund any federal airport-security mandates.