U.S. SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY

“The development of Secure Flight appears to be off to a better start than earlier versions of the passenger screening program.  The process has started with greater transparency, and this audit shows that some progress has been made in addressing the concerns outlined by Congress.  But the GAO report also clearly shows that there is more work to do before Secure Flight should be deployed. 

“The problems GAO has identified strongly suggest that Secure Flight will not be ready for prime time when TSA plans to deploy the system in August.  Congress was clear that TSA needs to meet several requirements before implementation, including providing due process for passengers wrongly delayed or denied boarding and correcting data errors, preventing large numbers of false positives, and ensuring that there are no specific privacy concerns with the technological architecture.  Congress was also clear that during the testing phase, no information gathered from passengers, airlines and reservation systems should be used to screen, delay or deny boarding, except when an individual is on a government watchlist. 

“GAO’s report shows that we are still a long way from assurances in these critical areas.  There are still many unknowns and uncompleted tasks, including thorough evaluation of test results and the use and accuracy of commercial data.  TSA needs to work the bugs out of this system before inflicting unnecessary difficulties on the traveling public.  These critical concerns should be addressed thoroughly and effectively before proceeding to the next phase.  Premature implementation would undermine the public’s trust and confidence in the screening system and limit its overall effectiveness.  We need screening for safety, but we must take the time and effort needed to do it right.

“We also need to scrutinize TSA’s plans for using commercial data brokers.  A report released on Friday by the DHS Inspector General assessed TSA’s role in facilitating the transfer of more than 12 million private-sector records on airline passengers.  The report concluded that TSA officials gave inaccurate statements about those data transfers and failed to ensure privacy protections.  TSA must do better when it comes to the issue of commercial data and Secure Flight.  We should know what kind of information these data brokers will be supplying and whether it is reliably accurate and readily correctable, and we should establish to what extent such data will actually improve safety and security.  The role of commercial data companies in government efforts has been expanding for far too long without sufficient oversight.”

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