News

E-ticket kiosk start of trouble for '`terrorist'

July 27, 2003

COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. -- Retired English teacher Joe Adams doesn't fit the terrorist profile.

But when the 71-year-old tried to use a Delta Airlines self check-in kiosk at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the e-ticket kiosk turned him away. Adams eventually found that his name is on the Transportation Security Administration's secretive "no-fly list," a computerized listing of "known terrorists or enemies of the federal government," in the words of TSA spokesman Darren Kayser.

According to a report in theMinneapolis Star Tribune, TSA Administrator James Loy said, "a tiny number of the 45 million people who fly each month" have been caught in the computer web that snared Adams.

Although TSA officials won't say how many names are on the no-fly lists, civil liberties groups that have opposed its use have said they believe the number could range from several hundred to several thousand, the report said.

For Adams, it means working with a human ticket agent any time he tries to fly.

In the article, Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., who has scrutinized the effect of the TSA's screening program on civil liberties, said Adams' experience "shows something's not working. They say this is a problem of their old system, but they should be sure it will work in their new system."

Under its new security system, the TSA plans to replace the no-fly list with software that will match names with a range of databases.