24 September 2003

by Robert Daniel

Expect to be labeled with a color by the summer of 2004 as the United States government implements a profiling system for all airports nationwide.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to provide the U.S. government with your full name, home and credit card billing address, phone number and itinerary in order to verify your identity. After the information has been pooled from commercial and national databases, you will be assigned a color to determine if you are a security risk.

The colors the TSA are expected to use are as follows: Green: Safe to allow onboard the airplane, Yellow: Further screening required, Red: Turned over to authorities and possible arrest.

The TSA maintains at least two watch lists known as the No Fly list and the Selectee list. The purpose of both are to establish which air passengers are to be singled out for additional security questioning.

Airport authorities released 400 pages of documents earlier this year which confirm that 339 air passengers were stopped or questioned at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) due to the No Fly profiling between September 2001 and March 2003.

In addition to profiling, the TSA will use the results to determine if the individual has any outstanding felony warrants by running the person's name through law enforcement databases.

Anai Rhoads, the author of Racial and Religious Profiling- Innocent Until Proven Arab and The INS Registration Deadline Arrives - Civil Rights Questioned, questioned the real motive behind this system, "I would say most would view the TSA's methods as weak. They are using profiling in order to cover up the fact that the airline industry and government simply do not know how to secure our air travel. Profiling is very generic, proven ineffective time and time again and is basically racist. It targets more innocent people than actual terrorists."

"Terrorism is real, we have seen and experienced it here and abroad. We must remember however, that not all Arabs or Muslims are guilty. Just as not all African-Americans are guilty of crimes against society. We must recognize that profiling is flawed and should be replaced by security based on common sense and not by appearance or general background."

The TSA has no immediate plans to inform passengers of their color status and have failed to implement a system to clear those mistakenly accused of being a security risk to the airline. If you are labeled red, you may remain red even while innocent and released from further questioning.

The only positive change has been the removal of credit and medical information requests by the TSA since both were deemed irrelevant.

While the threat of terrorism and future terrorist acts against America are at the epicenter, the fear is weakening our basic civil liberties.

©2003 Robert Daniel. International Copyright Applies.