Politics: U.S. Travel & Justice To Become More Draconian

To those of us concerned with such niceties as civil liberties, it's beginning to look like the terrorists have won. Since the falling of the twin towers we've seen Congress pass the Patriot Act, which should be deemed unconstitutional but so far hasn't, with the specter of an even harsher Patriot Act II on the horizon. There have been hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants, both legal and illegal, rounded-up and held without due process. Prisoners of war are being held in Cuba without regard to the Geneva convention, even while President Bush was demanding that American POWs in Iraq be treated in accordance to the Geneva accords.

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Airport Security

Most Americans have been willing to look the other way as long as these "paper" erosions of civil liberties don't effect them personally. Mostly they don't, except where air travel is concerned. At airports, of course, frequent flyers have now grown used to being ordered to take off their shoes at security checkpoints, or of having their luggage opened and thoroughly inspected. They've also grown used to having to arrive at the terminal two hours before flight time, which turns a convenient forty-five minute flight into a nearly three hour ordeal.

Many would-be passengers, mainly people of Arab descent, have been refused boarding privileges simply because their last name matched the last name of someone on the Feds' terrorist watch list. We'd really be in a mess if there happened to be a suspected terrorist with a name like Smith or Jones.

Many passengers don't realize that in addition to the one-on-one screening they undergo at the security checkpoints, they're also being screened by computer. The system currently in effect was implemented by the airlines in the mid-1990s, long before 9/11, as a response to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The system identifies passengers as a risk based on assumptions about how terrorists travel.

Under this system, a passenger will be flagged for additional screening if seeking to travel with a one-way ticket, or if the ticket was purchased with cash instead of a credit card. The traveler considered a risk under these and other criteria will be given a boarding pass that bears a code of "SSS" or "***."

However, this system is now considered outdated and will be replaced within the year by a new computer screening process called Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System II (CAPPS II). The system will be operated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a federal agency that was created just months after the 2001 terrorist hijackings.

According to the TSA, the new system will actually make flying much more convenient for the majority of travelers. That may be true, reply both conservative and liberal civil libertarians, but many passengers will find the system to be a nightmare. Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, put it this way: "This system is going to be replete with errors. You could be falsely arrested. You could be delayed. You could lose your ability to travel."

Under the new system, passengers will be given a color code of either green, yellow or red, based in part on their city of departure, destination, traveling companions and the date the ticket was purchased. The majority of travelers will be designated "green" and will find air travel easier. About 8 percent will be coded "yellow" and will undergo additional screening at the checkpoint. The estimated 1 to 2 percent designated "red" will not be allowed to board and will face police questioning and possible arrest.

CAPPS II will use a two-step system, which begins by matching the passenger's name and other information against databases of private companies that track people's shopping habits, etc. This will assign the passenger a number that indicates the likelihood that he or she is traveling under an alias. Step two will match the passenger with government intelligence databases and look for local and state outstanding warrants for violent felonies. Passengers will be unaware of their color code and their numerical score.

Many worry that the system will eventually go beyond the intended purpose of improving air safety. "This system is not designed just to get potential terrorists," David A Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, told the Washington Post. "It's a law enforcement tool. The wider the net you cast, the more people you bring in."

Whether arrested at the airport or elsewhere, those facing federal charges can now expect the maximum penalty according to a new directive by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Federal prosecutors were ordered on September 22 to pursue maximum criminal charges and sentences and to use plea bargains only in limited circumstances. This new policy supersedes the policy of Clinton era Attorney General Janet Reno that allowed prosecutors greater discretion in determining both charges and punishment.

"It's a direction for the way we prosecute criminal behavior at the federal level," Ashcroft said. "If you violate a federal law, punishment will be uniform."

Uniformly tougher that is.

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