TSA Launches Secure Flight Program

Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to provide your date of birth and gender when booking plane tickets this summer.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has launched a program to improve security and reduce misidentification of passengers who have names similar to individuals on government watch lists.

As part of Secure Flight, airlines will ask passengers buying tickets to provide their names exactly as they appear on the government-issued identification they plan to use when traveling. Later, airlines will begin asking passengers to provide birth dates and gender.

via TSA launches ‘Secure Flight’ program – Los Angeles Times.

Passports Become Mandatory at Mexico, Canada Borders

New rules requiring passports or new high-tech documents to cross the United States’ northern and southern borders are taking effect Monday, as some rue the tightening of security and others hail it as long overdue.

The rules are being implemented nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks and long after the 9/11 Commission recommended the changes. They were delayed by complaints from state officials who worried the restrictions would hinder the flow of people and commerce and affect border towns dependent on international crossings.

In 2001 a driver’s license and an oral declaration of citizenship were enough to cross the Canadian and Mexican borders; Monday’s changes are the last step in a gradual ratcheting up of the rules. Now thousands of Americans are preparing by applying for passports or obtaining special driver’s licenses that can also be used to cross the border.

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Flying Soon? Get Ready To Use Your Middle Name

Does your passport or driver’s license include a full middle name that you normally don’t use? If so, you’ll have to include that name the next time you fly within the United States — and by December if you fly overseas. That new requirement seems to be sneaking up on a lot of unsuspecting travelers, and, apparently, unsuspecting airlines as well.

The requirement comes from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the same friendly folks who brought you taking off your shoes in a security line and limiting your carry-on liquids. The idea is supposed to make it easier for travelers, airlines, and TSA to avoid ID confusion and hassles at airports. Because the master lists of questionable travelers are apparently in full-name format, TSA wants to make sure that travel documents conform to its list. The new requirement was supposed to go into effect on May 15 for domestic travel, but when I spoke to people in the industry (before May 15), some expected it to pushed back a month or so.

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Homeland Security – Study Finds Serious Vulnerabilities in U.S. Passport Process

An investigation conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found serious weak spots in the process of issuing of passports, raising concern over terrorists’ access to American identities.

According to the report, “terrorists or criminals could steal an American citizen’s identity, use basic counterfeiting skills to create fraudulent documentation for that identity, and obtain a genuine U.S. passport.”

The GAO used counterfeit methods to successfully obtain passports in four different tests. In one case, the GAO investigator used the identity of a man who died in 1965.

The investigator was also able to purchase an airline ticket and bypass airport security using fraudulent identification.

According to the report, U.S. Department of State officials said fraud detection efforts are “hampered by limitations to its information sharing and data access with other federal and state agencies.”

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Highlights