FlyerTalk Forums - Changes coming to PreCheck????

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MSPeconomist (Post 26269493)

(3) could be for congress critters.

If Congress critters get a free pass, then why not governors? Judges? Cops?

Ordinary people with extremely high security clearances, regularly updated, do not qualify for a free pass based on their extensive government background checks. They still have to pony up the $ and get TSA's less-detailed background check.

Sounds to me like CYA language to allow a few people in TSA HQ an unquestioned an unmonitored exemption from the rules.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 26269675)

Based on other non-quoted sections of the bill and the committee reports, the committee that considered the legislation is indeed open to expanding PreCheck to those with active security clearances. Possession of a security clearance is a factor that the bill directs to be considered in implementing PreCheck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 26269675)

If Congress critters get a free pass, then why not governors? Judges? Cops?

Federal Judges and some cops already get a free pass to PreCheck. (See page 8 of this PDF: http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/669327.pdf)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 26269675)

Ordinary people with extremely high security clearances, regularly updated, do not qualify for a free pass based on their extensive government background checks. They still have to pony up the $ and get TSA's less-detailed background check.

They do if they are actual DOD employees; if contractors, then no. Again, see PDF above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 26269429)

This sounds like a great provision. The population of air travelers is "known" (the TSA has their names) and "low-risk," since the share of travelers who intend harm is vanishingly small. So, the Administrator could (in a sane world) designate all travelers as Precheck qualified tomorrow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 26269429)

(3) and (b) are particularly interesting.

The unnamed 'Administrator' can issue known traveler numbers to members of a 'population designated by the Administrator as known and low-risk' - with no requirement for biographic or biometric information, ie, no background check of any sort.

Seriously? An unnamed administrator can hand out KTNs to anyone he has designated 'low risk' without a background check?

Did he start with his immediate family and circle of friends?

(b) "In carrying out subsection (a), the Administrator shall ensure that expedited airport security screening remains available to passengers at or above the level that exists on the day before the date of the enactment of this Act."

That doesn't seem to line up with airports that offer Pre less and less often, but it's not like HQ tells FSDs what to do anyway.

Well, it may tell them what to do, but it doesn't enforce it.

It seems like I have a friend or an algorithm favoring me and my extended family. An expanding list of my non-US relatives who are from various VWP countries and use ESTAs to enter the US seem to very reliably get PreCheck LLL without having done anything to get included into a "registered"/"trusted" traveler program. And some of my adult US relatives reliably get PreCheck LLL on their boarding passes despite not having used the KTN field. My PreCheck LLL outcome with KTN completed has risen since my adult non-US relatives' PreCheck LLL outcomes have risen from zero to 100%. Amusingly some of my non-US relatives have higher PreCheck LLL rates than I have had historically despite my KTN use and my background.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chollie (Post 26269675)

My bet is that the TSA uses such administrative flexibility in order to kiss up to some people and/or avoid some potential PR challenges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GUWonder (Post 26271834)

My bet is that the TSA uses such administrative flexibility in order to kiss up to some people and/or avoid some potential PR challenges.

Yeah, that's what I think. There are a couple admins somewhere with the knowhow and authority to grant KTNs to people who have not undergone any kind of checks.

I imagine that when Rep. Chaffetz complained about his young daughters being separated from his wife and all being given retaliatory private room gropes because they opted out, Pistole immediately made sure that wife and daughters had KTNs. Problem solved, Chaffetz is happy.

Quote:

(3) A passenger who did not voluntarily submit biographic and biometric information for a security risk assessment but is a member of a population designated by the Administrator as known and low-risk and who may be issued a unique, known traveler number by the Administrator determining that such passenger is a member of a category of travelers designated by the Administrator as known and low-risk.

Isn't the population defined as "US travelers" already low-risk, given the odds of a terror attack?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmurrr (Post 26283931)

Isn't the population defined as "US travelers" already low-risk, given the odds of a terror attack?

Anyone who has flown in recent years is already well known to TSA. Names are checked against various Watch Lists and other law enforcement databases when purchasing a ticket. TSA could easily include those people who routinely travel by air into Pre-Check rolls without doing anything of substance. But TSA wouldn't be able to justify its existence if they did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schmurrr (Post 26283931)

Isn't the population defined as "US travelers" already low-risk, given the odds of a terror attack?

Apparently not low-risk enough to deserve a hands-off checkpoint transit.