Transportation Security Administration August 23, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is establishing one new system of records, DHS/TSA 019, under the Privacy Act of 1974, known as ``Secure Flight Records,'' for a passenger screening program known as Secure Flight. The Secure Flight program implements a mandate of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA) (Pub. L. 108-458, 118 Stat. 3638, Dec. 17, 2004) and is consistent with TSA's authority under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA). Section 4012(a)(1) of the IRTPA requires TSA to assume from air carriers the comparison of passenger information for domestic flights to the consolidated and integrated terrorist watch list maintained by the Federal Government. Further, section 4012(a)(2) of IRTPA similarly requires the DHS to compare passenger information for international flights to and from the United States against the consolidated and integrated terrorist watch list before departure of such flights.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to assume from aircraft operators the function of conducting pre-flight comparisons of airline passenger information to Federal Government watch lists for international and domestic flights. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is currently developing the Secure Flight program and issuing this rulemaking to implement this congressional mandate. This rule proposes to allow TSA to begin implementation of the Secure Flight program, under which TSA would receive passenger and certain non-traveler information, conduct watch list matching against the No Fly and Selectee portions of the Federal Government's consolidated terrorist watch list, and transmit boarding pass printing instructions back to aircraft operators. TSA would do so in a consistent and accurate manner while minimizing false matches and protecting privacy information. Also in this volume of the Federal Register, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is publishing a final rule to implement pre- departure advance passenger and crew manifest requirements for international flights and voyages departing from or arriving into the United States, using CBP's Advance Passenger Information System (APIS). These rules are related. We propose that, when the Secure Flight rule becomes final, aircraft operators would submit passenger information to DHS through a single DHS portal for both the Secure Flight and APIS programs. This would allow DHS to integrate the watch list matching component of APIS into Secure Flight, resulting in one DHS system responsible for watch list matching for all aviation passengers.