Airport background checks. (Insider Report).(new security program, Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System, CAPPS II, to rate passenger's risk potential)

The threat of terrorism is being cited to justify ratcheting up federal police-state measures at airports. Under new regulations published in the Federal Register, authorities have set up a new computer database system to check credit reports, banking activity, and other information for persons purchasing airline tickets, and then assign a "threat level" rating for every flyer. The new security program, known as CAPPS II -- Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System -- will rate each passenger's risk potential according to a threat level color code: green, yellow, or red. This appears to be part of a piecemeal approach to implement the controversial Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, which has run into considerable opposition. The Pentagon's TIA program (see "Watching Your Every Move" in our January 27th issue) has come under fire from members of Congress and a broad array of organizations because of the immense powers it confers and its vast potential for abuse and tyranny.

Bush loyalists who cannot conceive of the current White House putting such power to despotic purposes should contemplate the fact that sooner or later this power will be wielded by an Al Gore or a Hillary Rodham Clinton. Those who recall the recent Clinton era should not have trouble imagining a situation in the not too distant future when pro-lifers, home schoolers, gun owners, vocal constitutionalists, and other patriots are officially designated as security threats.

Beyond the danger of intentional despotism, there is the danger inherent in all bureaucracies. According to ...