Air security system hits a snag, data say

WASHINGTON – A new air security system designed to track foreign visitors arriving in the United States has mistakenly snagged dozens of crew members of foreign airlines, according to new documents obtained from the Department of Homeland Security.

The manager of one unidentified foreign carrier complained that 35 employees were stopped for 30 minutes to an hour after arrival in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, New York, Anchorage and Guam.

Another carrier said eight crew members had been questioned in Miami, Newark, New York’s John F. Kennedy and Los Angeles airports. In each case, carriers indicated that the new program called US-VISIT, which captures digital fingerprints and photographs of all foreigners entering the country, was unable to properly identify the crew members who already have undergone U.S. background checks.

“So far thirty five crew members of (redacted airline) experienced problems with biometrics identification at the checkpoints” in the United States, said one e-mail written to Homeland Security’s privacy office that receives the complaints.

“Thirty two of them encountered fingerprint scanning problems,” one had a digital photo glitch, and two appeared to have stolen passport numbers, the e-mail said.

US-VISIT sparked criticism from foreign governments when it was rolled out in 2004.

Officials in some countries, such as Brazil, have complained that the system made visitors feel like they were criminals and Brazil retaliated by photographing and fingerprinting American visitors.

U.S. Homeland Security officials said the program has received complaints from 150 individuals in 18 months of operation, including at least 59 foreign airline crew members. About half of the complaints were the result of false watch-list matches, many of which included the crew members.

“We are unaware of any widespread complaints related to crew processing concerns,” said Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. “Because crews have their own lanes (at immigration and customs), oftentimes they move through more expeditiously than other travelers.”

Roehrkasse said the number of foreign airline-crew complaints was relatively small.