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Today's Headlines •  Arguing About Whose Job It Is •  Talking About The Cost •  Strained Relations •  A Looming Deadline - Advertisement - - Advertisement -		Issue Of The Week: Monday, March 24, 2008 Airlines, Homeland Security Tangle Over Fingerprint Rule by Chris Strohm      The Homeland Security Department and the airline industry are at odds over a key national security program, sparking fears that travel to the United States could be disrupted -- while placing in jeopardy the ability of the U.S. government to meet a looming congressional mandate.      The Homeland Security Department is on the verge of issuing a proposed rule that would require airlines to take the fingerprints of most foreigners leaving the country via airports. The majority of Canadian citizens would be exempt from the rule.      The rule is intended to fulfill a requirement of the US-VISIT program that biometrics, such as fingerprints, be used to verify when foreigners leave the country.      The airlines would have to capture and store four fingerprints of foreign travelers, and then transmit the images to the VISIT central database, where they would be compared to fingerprints of foreigners who entered the country.      DHS originally hoped to issue the proposed rule in January, but now expects it to be published by mid-April, according to Robert Mocny, director of the VISIT program.      The airlines strongly oppose a mandate that would require them to collect fingerprints at traveler check-in counters. Tension between DHS and the airline industry has mounted to the point that, in some cases, the two sides have stopped talking to each other about the matter, officials said.      Instead, the airline industry has been lobbying OMB to either significantly alter or outright kill the coming rule. Industry officials also have been meeting with key lawmakers to express their opposition and, if needed, build support for legislative relief.      "What we don't want to see, but what looks like it could be shaping up ... is a standoff on this," said Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, a nonprofit trade organization that promotes increased travel to the United States. "We've all got skin in the game here and we've all got to find a solution." Arguing About Whose Job It Is      The airlines argue that the job of verifying when foreigners leave the country is an inherently governmental task, meaning DHS should do it. They also say it could cost them billions to upgrade their information technology systems.      "If we buy everything and we've got to upgrade our networks, this would probably be singularly the most expensive security program ever mandated on the industry," said Kenneth Dunlap, North American security director for the International Air Transport Association -- which represents about 240 airlines.      IATA projects it could take up to one minute to collect the fingerprint of each passenger at ticket counters, which would total more than two hours for large flights and could result in serious travel delays.      "We haven't voiced opposition to biometric screening and collection," said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, another trade group that represents leading U.S. airlines. "What we voiced opposition to is that the airlines should be responsible for that collection, and that it should be done at an airline ticket counter."      In their lobbying efforts, airline industry officials argue that Congress never specified private companies should do the fingerprint collection. Their concerns appear to be gaining traction with key lawmakers.      In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff last week, House Homeland Security Chairman Thompson and Homeland Security Border Subcommittee Chairman Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., said that the "potential delegation of inherently governmental responsibilities to the air carriers is troubling."      "The department can expect a thorough review of the [proposed rule] by the committee and the submission of official comments," they wrote. "We urge you to actively engage the air industry so a successful biometric air exit system can be implemented." Talking About The Cost      But the Homeland Security Department's Mocny said that getting accurate cost estimates for the proposed rule has been difficult, because some airline industry officials will not talk with the department anymore about the issue.      "It's been a one-way dialogue," he declared.      Mocny said the proposed rule has been primarily held up at OMB in order to work out the cost structure. DHS, for example, assumes that airlines will upgrade their existing IT systems and transmit fingerprint images to the department via connections that are used to send other passenger data.      However, IATA disputes that assumption -- countering that airlines will have to increase their Internet bandwidth up to 1,000 percent in order to send fingerprint images.      DHS has requested about $55 million in its proposed FY09 budget to develop a biometric-based exit system, which is only a fraction of what the airlines predict will be needed. Mocny said the department is not ruling out sharing the cost burden with the airline industry.      Mocny said he hopes dialogue with the airlines will resume once the proposed rule is issued and they can provide their official comments.      There will likely be a 90-day comment period, followed by negotiations to produce a final rule. Mocny said the department hopes to have the final rule go into effect by next January, but acknowledged the schedule might slip. Strained Relations      Mocny said the airlines need to understand they are an integral part of the government's efforts to secure the nation's borders. He said they already participate in several passenger screening programs.      "The airlines work with us in a host of areas and this is just a modernized version of that," he said.      IATA's Dunlap responded by saying that DHS does not understand the business model airlines are moving toward, in which passengers will no longer check in at ticket counters.      "This is such an aberration from the way DHS has done business over the last several years with the industry," Dunlap said. "We are more than happy to work with DHS to develop the solution that the Congress has mandated them to do. But it's really hard with the 'our-way-or-the-highway environment' that they've created."      He added that "the 800-pound guerilla in the room" is the fact that DHS does not yet have a plan in place for verifying when foreigners leave the country by land, creating a major loophole in the VISIT program.      ATA's Castelveter said his organization, at least, is still willing to talk with DHS. "I don't want this to be a battle between DHS and the airlines," he said. A Looming Deadline      One possible option is to give the airlines flexibility in where they collect the fingerprints, said C. Stewart Verdery, a Washington lobbyist and former DHS official. For example, the airlines could do mobile biometric collection as passengers go through screening checkpoints, rather than at the ticket counters.      "A key question will be whether the rule is a one-size-fits-all counter mandate, or whether it gives airlines flexibility on where to put biometric collection: counter, gate, checkpoint or mobile," Verdery said.      Regardless, DHS is up against a congressional mandate. A law enacted last year requires the department to have a system in place by June 30, 2009 at airports to verify the departure of at least 97 percent of foreigners.      If the system is not in place by then, DHS will no longer have the authority to ease travel restrictions for citizens of other countries.

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