Even if their request makes it that far, the report found travelers “rarely benefit from TSA’s efforts to add them to the cleared list, as air carriers seldom use the list.” Furthermore, even when carriers used the cleared list, the version given to them “is not a complete list of all cleared individuals.” One carrier even mistakenly used the cleared list to flag flyers for secondary screening.

By Jay Boehmer

OCTOBER 19, 2009 — The Traveler Redress Inquiry Program “in most cases” has done little in the way of improving the situation of travelers who used the program, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security inspector general report dated Sept. 11 and released this month.

When the Department of Homeland Security in early 2007 launched TRIP, it promised an expedited one-stop shop for travelers misplaced on the no-fly and selectee watchlists to gain relief from the woes that awaited them at the airport. What the public got was a program rife with inefficiencies, slow processing times, insufficient technology and miscommunication.

“Redress-seekers generally do not benefit from their participation in TRIP,” DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner concluded in the partially redacted 165-page report. “Their cases often languish for extended periods and are handled inconsistently. Sometimes their cases are not brought to the attention of the appropriate agency. In other instances, cases are closed before all indicated agencies have had a chance to review them. Even when cases are properly reviewed, they do not usually produce meaningful results for redress-seekers.”

The inspector general found room for improvement in the areas of security, privacy, reliability, timeliness and performance management, among others, following an investigation conducted in the field from March 2008 to September 2008. The investigation spanned more than 50 interviews and meetings with staff from the nine DHS agencies that support the program, officials from the departments of Justice and State, which also participate in TRIP, as well as travel industry representatives and airlines.

DHS in response to the inspector general’s concerns agreed with 20 of the report’s 24 recommendations and said some fixes could come into force as soon as this year. However, “a number of its proposed plans focus on solutions that will take more than a year to develop, rather than near-term corrective actions consistent with the pressing nature of the underlying issues,” the inspector general said of DHS’s response.

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Tags: airport security, DHS, HOMELAND SECURITY, No, No Fly List, Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, TRIP, TSA, Watch, Watch Lists

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