WASHINGTON, 26 February 2005 — The Department of Homeland Security is drafting a law that will require all international airlines to pass on their passenger manifest information as much as an hour before departure, officials told Arab News.
“It’s not really much different from what we’re doing now, but it will give us the time to prevent a terrorist or hijacker from getting on the plane in the first place. We need to be able to identify any suspected terrorists and other criminals (on board) before the plane takes off,” said Christiana Halsey of the Department’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (BCBP). The “Notice of Proposed Rule Making,” is Homeland Security’s first legal step in the regulatory path, she said.
Currently, all airlines bound for the United States are required to submit their passenger manifest 15 minutes after departure. Homeland Security is seeking action that will require airlines to submit the data one hour prior to takeoff.
“This will allow us to run the passenger manifest against various law enforcement databases so we can identify people before they come to the US,” said Halsey.
“What now happens is that the BCBP receives the data 15 minutes after a plane has departed, after ‘wheels up.’ If you’re a passenger on the flight and the flight has taken off with a terrorist or a criminal on board, there’s a chance the flight can be taken over and used as a terrorist’s weapon.”
Halsey said the proposal was in draft form. She said she did not anticipate the proposed regulation would inconvenience passengers.
“If you’re an international traveler, you already arrive two hours before takeoff. So the traveler won’t see any difference, but it will allow us to have better security for the airplane.”
From December 2003 to January 2004, as many as a dozen flights from London and Paris bound for the US were canceled when names thought to be linked to terrorism turned up on the passenger manifests.
“If we can get the information in advance, we can minimize, if not entirely eliminate,” such costly diversions and cancellations,” Halsey said. “They are inconvenient for the passengers and expensive for the airlines.”
Some airline and industry officials have expressed reservations regarding the announcement, saying the law could create serious logistical problems for the airline industry.
But Halsey said they were working closely with the airline industry. “We are testing it on several airplanes right now, and working on a feasibility study. “The airline industry has just as much at stake as we do. No one wants to be responsible for letting a terrorist on their plane,” she said.
The move comes after President George W. Bush on Thursday signed an agreement with Russia to restrict the availability of shoulder-fired missiles. American officials fear terrorists will use the missiles, many of which were distributed for conflicts in the 1980s and then discarded, buried or sold on the black market, to attack commercial flights.
