TSA Testimony on Secure Flight and Watchlist Name Matching
Testimony & Speeches
ORAL STATEMENT
OF
GREG WELLEN
ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, TSA OFFICE OF TRANSPORTATION THREAT ASSESSMENT AND CREDENTIALING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION
SEPTEMBER 9, 2008
Good afternoon, Chairwoman Jackson-Lee, Ranking Member Lungren, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss TSA's Secure Flight program and our effective use of the TSC watchlist.
I first want to introduce myself to the Subcommittee. My name is Greg Wellen and I am the Assistant Administrator of TSA's Office of Transportation Threat Assessment and Credentialing, which oversees the Secure Flight program.
Prior to joining TSA, I worked for more than 25 years as an intelligence community officer for the National Security Agency. I am a career government servant, and I transferred to TSA in April of this year.
First, to be clear, identification matters. If we believe we have intelligence that may lead us to people who are planning terrorist attacks, we absolutely must use that information.
When the TSC intelligence committee identifies someone who meets the criteria for a person who should not fly, we—TSA and the airlines—have to make sure that person does not get on a plane.
Basic watchlist name matching is something everyone agrees must be done effectively. The problem we face is not an "overgrown" watchlist with too many names or names that don't matter. The real issue is how to match actual passenger names against those very important names that are on the TSC watchlist.
TSA does not control how airlines match the names. That is a business decision that each airline must make.
Each airline has a different process for using the watchlist to match names. One carrier may have a sophisticated computer system that uses robust filters to clear names. Another carrier may check names manually, or use a less advanced software program. The result is inconsistency between airlines and inconvenience to their passengers.
The problem is solved when the same method is used to clear a passenger from the list. That answer is Secure Flight.
TSA is working in partnership with airlines to enhance their ability to avoid delays of passengers with names similar to those on watchlists. Hassles due to misidentification and the need to stand in line at the ticket counter is a consistent complaint by the traveling public, and we share that concern. Thousands of passengers are inconvenienced each day.
Secretary Chertoff announced in April the flexibility given to the airlines to create a system to verify and securely store a passenger's date of birth to clear up watchlist misidentifications. By voluntarily providing this limited biographical data to an airline, travelers who were previously inconvenienced on every trip now have an opportunity for a better travel experience.
More airlines need to take advantage of this process to quickly verify that a passenger is not the person on the terrorist watchlist.
TSA has made sure that Secure Flight is the best way possible to match names. Our goal is to stop the people who need to be stopped and let other passengers go through freely.
In 2005, GAO and the Secure Flight Working Group issued reports saying that more needed to be done in terms of privacy and program integrity for Secure Flight.
In February 2006, Administrator Hawley testified that we would re-baseline Secure Flight to address the concerns expressed in the reports. TSA significantly upgraded the design and development of the program, and the implementing rule has received public scrutiny and discussion. The rule is now in the final stages of administrative review.
Today I am pleased to announce a significant milestone in the implementation of Secure Flight. Secretary Chertoff has certified that TSA has successfully met the ten conditions required by Congress as outlined in the 2005 DHS Appropriations Act. This paves the way for Secure Flight to commence operations as planned in January, 2009.
Administrator Hawley invites all airlines to participate in the testing process so that their passengers benefit from the convenience of Secure Flight.
I am confident that we have the right team in place to make Secure Flight a success moving forward.
While some may say it is a difficult balance to increase security while protecting individual privacy rights—TSA is very clear that privacy and security are essential ingredients, and both have been built directly into the Secure Flight program.
Secure Flight will result in better security and create a more consistent and uniform pre-screening process for passengers while, at the same time, reducing misidentifications.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today and I would be happy to answer any questions.
