MINNEAPOLIS - Select airline passengers breezed through security Wednesday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in the start of an experiment to ease delays and make flying a little more agreeable.
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By midmorning, about 50 Northwest Airlines passengers used the special express lane that the Transportation Security Administration hopes will reduce wait times for frequent fliers while allowing screeners to focus their attention elsewhere.
"If we can ease the congestion at the busy checkpoints just a little bit, that's a good reason to have the registered traveler program," said Carol DiBattiste, chief of staff for the TSA.
Over the past two weeks, about 2,400 frequent business travelers have signed up, providing scans of irises and fingerprints and extensive personal information. That information was cross-checked against several criminal and terror-related databases.
Well, folks, it looks as if 2,400 of our fellow citizens put ego above the bigger picture and bought into this extortion, which Ms diBattisste so eloquently described. Ben Franklin's oft-repeated quote come to mind.
The "background check" is basically what's required for a SECRET clearance. Do a search and you can read just how backlogged security clearance investigations are in this country. I had a former employee who is still waiting for her clearance one year after she submitted the paperwork.
Obviously, the frequent traveler program is more important than national security to the TSA and this Administration.
Frequent Traveler Program at MSP