Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Aviation chair airs frustration with DHS pilots

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 15:15:30 -0400

Thursday, May 20, 2004
Aviation chair airs frustration with DHS pilots
BY Sarita Chourey
May 19, 2004

Frustrated with a perceived logjam in the Homeland Security Department's
scattering of programs for identification technology, the chairman of
the House Subcommittee on Aviation plans to introduce a bill to force
DHS to move beyond pilot projects and actually implement something.

In a hearing today, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) told Stewart Verdery,
assistant secretary for border and transportation security policy and
planning, that the proposed legislation would very specifically outline
what Congress expects.
"Go back and tell [BTS undersecretary Asa Hutchinson and DHS Secretary
Tom Ridge], and anyone above and below that we're going to try to define
what we want you to do to get it done as quickly as possible," said
Mica, chairman of the aviation subcommittee.

A markup of the legislation is slated for the week after the Memorial
Day recess.
At today's event, lawmakers asked why programs such as the
Transportation Worker Identification Credential, the Computer Assisted
Passenger Prescreening System and the Registered Traveler program seemed
to be languishing in the testing phases.

"It's very frustrating to keep studying and studying," said Rep. Bill
Shuster (R-Pa.). "We've got to get out there and put [security programs]
in place. We all know it's not going to be perfect."

Verdery defended Homeland Security officials' progress on many
initiatives. "We are moving extremely aggressively," he argued. "Is it
complete? Of course not. But this is not stuff that's sitting in a dusty
room"

DHS faces challenges related to uniform credentials for transportation
workers and methods to track security risks among travelers. Officials
must protect civil liberties, choose the most secure technology for a
variety of requirements, ensure that a solution can be replicated across
different airports, minimize false positives in certain technologies and
capture information in less than ideal situations, such as scanning the
iris of a moving person.

Mica railed against a pilot program occurring in eight airports that he
said is evaluating employee access technologies that have already been
tested. "All this stuff has been done," Mica said. "I am wondering if
it's just vendors keeping it stirred up so no one wins a prize."

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2004/0517/web-dhspilot-05-19-04.asp

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