Are you confused by CAPPS or wondering how TRIP differs from US-VISIT? If you abide by the WHTI, are you a Registered Traveler? In order to ease the confusion about various U.S. programs to improve security in the travel sector, Travel Weekly Senior Editor Michael Milligan has put together a glossary of some of the key security programs.

US-VISIT

Initiated: January 2004 

Agency: Customs and Border Protection 

Objective: To account for foreign visitors entering and departing the country.

Overview: US-VISIT is an acronym for U.S. Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology. It is designed to be an entry/exit system that captures biometric data from arriving and departing travelers holding non-immigrant visas.

The 9/11 Commission urged its creation "as quickly as possible." Its development has already cost the U.S. more than $1.3 billion in the last four years.

How it works: According to the Department of Homeland Security, the

US-VISIT process typically begins overseas at U.S. consular offices, where a potential inbound traveler applies for a visa. A digital photo of the applicant is taken, and both index fingers are scanned electronically for prints that are stored in a database.

The visitor's fingers are scanned again upon arrival at U.S. airports by Customs and Border Protection officers and, along with the digital photo, checked against the database to confirm the traveler's identity.

The technology, currently deployed in 116 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land points of entry, is among the key elements of the country's border security improvement efforts.

The DHS said about 90 million fingerprints have been collected since the system launched in 2004. This year, all 10 fingers are being scanned as part of the process.

Challenge: While the entry end of the system has been in operation for three years, the DHS has had difficulty implementing the exit portion, particularly at airports. Unlike arriving visitors, who must pass through customs, there is no single checkpoint through which visitors leave.

As part of a current pilot program, departing visitors are asked to use certain kiosks where biometric data is collected and verified. The DHS, citing low compliance rates, has proposed incorporating the biometric exit procedure into the airline check-in process, but airlines have balked.

The DHS still intends to roll out the exit procedure next year, but the Government Accountability Office said it doubted that would be possible. 

CAPPS II

Overview: The Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System was canceled in August 2004. It was replaced by Secure Flight.

Secure Flight

Initiated: 2004, slated for implementation this year 

Agency: Transportation Security Administration 

Objective: To identify known and suspected terrorists, prevent individuals on the no-fly list from boarding an aircraft and identify individuals on the Selectee List for enhanced screening while protecting the privacy of individuals.

Overview: Secure Flight is a prescreening program designed to check passenger information against federal watch lists before passengers board their domestic and international flights. Currently, airlines are responsible for checking passenger lists against government lists for flights within U.S. airspace.

How it works: As proposed, Secure Flight would require that airlines and/or travel agents transmit passenger information to the TSA, which would then "determine any matches of information with government watch lists and transmit matching results back to aircraft operators."

The TSA contends that moving watch-list-matching responsibilities away from the airlines and centralizing it in-house will improve consistency and help avoid misidentifications.

Challenge: The DHS has instructed Customs and Border Protection and the TSA to combine Secure Flight with the Advance Passenger Information System (see APIS, below) to create a single, predeparture, screening solution.

As proposed, CBP would prescreen domestic and international passengers through APIS, while the TSA would handle Secure Flight and vet passengers on international flights.

APIS

Initiated: Scheduled to launch in February. 

Agency: Customs and Border Protection 

Objective: To vet passenger manifests against terrorist watch lists.

Overview: The Advance Passenger Information System will transmit pre-arrival and departure manifest data on all passengers and crew members traveling on commercial aircraft that fly within U.S. airspace or onboard cruise ships. Airlines already transmit PNR data at intervals of 72 hours, 48 hours and 24 hours before departure to CBP.

How it works: Passenger data will be collected and transmitted to CBP 30 minutes prior to securing the airplane for departure. CBP will have the ability to provide a screening response within minutes of receiving the data.

Challenge: Integrating APIS with Secure Flight.

Registered Traveler

Initiated: July 2004 

Agency: TSA 

Objective: To expedite frequent airline passengers through security screening.

Overview: Registered Traveler is operated by private-sector companies and facilitated by the TSA. Frequent travelers who enroll in the program must provide biographic and biometric data to the TSA, which then conducts a security threat assessment.

Registered Traveler is currently operational at several U.S. airports, including all three New York-area airports and San Francisco.

Challenge: Registered Traveler has entered a new phase, called Registered Traveler Interoperability Pilot, or RTIP. The objective is to test the interoperability of the program among airports, airlines and the approximately 10 private-sector companies operating the program.

WHTI

Initiated: September 2005 

Agency: State Department 

Objective: To strengthen security at airports, seaports and border crossings by requiring that all U.S. citizens display a valid passport or one of two other secure forms of identification upon re-entry. 

Overview: The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, or WHTI, is designed to reduce the number of identification and citizenship documents accepted for entering the U.S. Currently, 8,000 document types are accepted.

The program is being rolled out in phases. The first began on Jan. 23, 2007, when a valid passport was required for air travel between the U.S. and Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Central America, South America and Caribbean destinations other than Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The second phase, which begins this week, mandates that all U.S. citizens must possess a valid identity document (e.g. U.S. driver's license) and citizenship document (e.g. U.S. birth certificate) to cross land borders and enter seaports when traveling between the U.S. and other Western Hemisphere destinations.

The third phase, originally scheduled to begin this summer, will require that all travelers present a U.S. passport, passport card or trusted-traveler card at all land border crossings and seaports. The State Department has yet to determine the date when the third phase will be implemented.

How it works: Travelers must present a U.S. passport or a passport card, a limited-use ID currently under development that would be valid only for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

SENTRI, NEXUS, FAST and the U.S. Coast Guard Mariner documents will also be accepted for border crossings.

Challenge: Getting passports and passport cards to travelers in a timely manner.

Electronic Travel Authorization

Initiated: Scheduled to start sometime this year. 

Agency: DHS 

Objective: To confirm identities of prospective travelers.

Overview: The Electronic Travel Authorization program is a tool for gathering advance information on travelers arriving from countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program. A similar system has been used for many years in Australia.

Because the U.S. "needs information and assistance from the country where the traveler resides," the ETA will require waiver program countries to report lost and stolen passport data for both blank and issued passports.

The DHS will also require Visa Waiver Program candidates to "take further steps to improve the security and interoperability of travel documents" such as establishing "central issuance authorities, standards for emergency passports, special markings for replacement passports, measures to identify travelers with two or more passports and expedited issuance of the new biometric electronic passports."

Challenge: The system has never been tried in the U.S., which receives millions more inbound travelers each year than Australia receives.

TRIP

Initiated: February 2007 

Agency: DHS

Objective: To remove misinformation about individuals from DHS and other security databases.

Overview: The Travel Redress Inquiry Program is a Web-based system designed as a single point of contact for individuals to petition that erroneous information in DHS systems be corrected if they have been "repeatedly identified for additional screening."

TRIP is also designed to help people who have been denied or delayed entry into and exit from the U.S.

How it works: When a passenger files a complaint on the site, it is routed to the appropriate DHS department, which then reviews the facts and reaches a determination about that passenger's status.

Challenge: Responding to complaints in a timely fashion and guaranteeing that the misinformation has been addressed and will not reoccur.

Also, it was recently discovered that the TRIP Web site and the traveler data on it were not fully secure. The TSA said it had corrected the problem.

Get More!

For more details on this article, see:

"Fortress America

"Evolution of the US-VISIT Program