DHS scraps flight list plan.

The Department of Homeland Security has t scrapped plans to require airlines with flights originating overseas to provide U.S. Customs and Border Protection with a list of passengers and crew members one hour before takeoff.

Currently, airlines and ocean-going vessels are required to send CBP the advanced passenger information system (APIS) manifest shortly after departure. The "APIS minus 60 plan" regulation was proposed in April 2005, but is now dead, Robert Jacksta, executive director of DHS' traveler security and facilitation office, told the Airports International Council.

The airlines told DHS that the plan simply "could not work," Jacksta said.

The manifest could not be finalized 60 minutes prior to takeoff because many passengers connect to flights at airport hubs where allotted transfer times are often less than an hour.

Instead, the CPB is in discussions with the airline industry to create an "advanced quick query system" that will clear passengers instantly as they pick up their boarding passes.

"The carriers think the technology is there, and CBP is willing to work with them to have that connectivity."

Thomas Marten, vice president of SITA INC Government Solutions, an airline industry consortium, said in an e-mail to National Defense that several countries, including Australia, have been using such systems since the beginning of the decade. "The technology is quite mature," he said. A major roadblock will be making sure all passports are machine-readable, he added.

Other changes are underway for international travelers, said Jim Williams, director of the US-VISIT program. For example, DHS is pressing to have foreign visitors applying for visas to submit all 10 fingerprints instead of two. Increasing the number will help expand the watch list and make the agency's standards more compatible with FBI databases.

The trick in airports is to make sure the new process does not slow down already long lines. "We know that time matters in the airports," Williams said. Taking a set of 10 prints will require an applicant to make three motions with his hands instead of two, and in airports, "seconds matter," he added.

DHS is working "very hard with the fingerprint-scanner industry to make sure they can advance their products to meet our operation processing times," Williams added.