The article is crap. The program was never designed to be a true "trusted traveler" program-- something I have explained many times in other threads-- and he is complaining that the program will operate exactly as intended.

The intent was not to give certain chosen travelers a pass to the front of the line and a gauranteed hassle-free experience, the intent was to free up TSO resources to focus on more "risky" travelers.

Until people wrap their heads around this concept-- that this program is designed to help the TSA allocate resources, not to make travel easier for a chosen few-- people will continue to say stupid things like a fee is coming or this program is a failure because it doesn't gaurantee a hassle-free experience. This article is just another example of someone misunderstanding the purpose of the program and then complaining about it being a failure because it doesn't meet their version of what they think such a program should be.