Owe money to the IRS? Having trouble making your mortgage payments? Ever been sued or been arrested?
Soon, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will know the answers to these questions before you pass through security, and they might affect whether you are cleared for travel.
[amazon asin=1590799755&template=*lrc ad (left)]In a recently published article, the New York Times reported:
The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information.
The complete list of sources of personal data reviewed by the TSA also includes:
▪private employment information
▪vehicle registrations
▪travel history[amazon asin=0451524934&template=*lrc ad (right)]
▪property ownership records
▪physical characteristics
▪tax identification numbers
▪past travel itineraries
▪law enforcement information
▪“intelligence” information
▪passport numbers
[amazon asin=1478385006&template=*lrc ad (left)]▪frequent flier information
▪other “identifiers” linked to DHS databases
What does all of this have to do with “national security?” The New York Times writes that the “the agency says that the goal is to streamline the security procedures for millions of passengers who pose no risk.”
The TSA released the documents detailing the depth of this screening, but has refused to comment publicly.
Speaking under condition of anonymity, a TSA official told the New York Times “the main goal of the program was to identify low-risk travelers for lighter screening at airport security checkpoints, adapting methods similar to those used to flag suspicious people entering the United States.”
If the traveler is a member of an airline’s frequent flier program, the airline will be required to share the person’s travel history with the TSA.[amazon asin=1250010454&template=*lrc ad (right)]
Apparently, the protection of the “homeland” is not the true purpose of the intrusion; rather it is to persuade travelers to register with the TSA’s “PreCheck” program.
By enrolling in “PreCheck,” a person becomes a “trusted traveler.” In order to apply for “PreCheck,” a traveler must submit their biometric fingerprint for registration with an FBI database, submit to a criminal background check, and pay an $85 fee to the TSA for a five-year PreCheck membership. One story on “PreCheck” claims that the TSA may receive as much as $255 million from such fees in 2013.
Constitutionalists will readily recognize the “PreCheck” program for what it is: a means whereby the federal government not only violates the civil liberties protected by the Fourth Amendment, but that converts a right into a privilege, one revocable at the will of an unelected, unaccountable, unconstitutional agency of the federal behemoth.
