Instead of treating would-be passengers as strangers when clearing them to board aircraft for security reasons, why don’t they pull up internet documentation about the person? Wasn’t this an idea not long ago? I think they referred to such documentation as “travel resumes” but don’t find what looks like this by searching on the term.
The idea should be that it is easy to do a much better job of screening people over the years, based on the other people who work with them and so forth.
If somebody has lived in the United States for 30 years, worked for the same company for 5 years, and never had any personal history that would arouse security worries, why try to do anything to figure him out on the spot?
If the same effort went into pre-screening travelers for security that goes into checking their credit worthiness when they buy a ticket, wouldn’t we be catching all the problems better than we are now?
Well a database must be obtained well. I have worked with (not for but with) the airlines and they are SO darn cheap I can’t tell you how darn cheap they are.
They aren’t gonna pay anyone to properly maintain a database, they’ll get some clerk or temp person to do it for $1.00 + minimum wage. And this will lead to major problems with people being left off a list or the wrong people gettig put ON the list.
Can you imagine the uproar if they have a “Safe flyer” and he turns around and blows up a plane or even gets caught with something.
The airlines want as minimal liablity they can get and having a list prescreened is adding to the problems.
Add to this any computer database can be hacked. If you avoid all the problems by not having a list, it makes it easier in the end. Of course perhaps not as safe, but you have to weigh cost versus safety
Several years ago, when the entry into the US for non-Americans was tightened and conducted more subjective by the entrance officers at the US airports, there were reports of people not being allowed to enter because the officer googled their amazon wishlist and found that they were interested in “Anarchist cookbook” or “socalist” books.
Besides the problem with unintentional or hacked mistakes in databases, you don’t catch the sleepers - people who come to the US as young men without any infractions, live quiet lives without doing any wrong for the next 10 years, until suddenly they receive their command. Neither do you capture American-borns who suddenly convert to radical ideas of any type. Not every Timothy McVeigh has a history of hanging around with nutjobs and making threats before they blow up buildings (or planes).