Questions raised anew about ATS

DHS’s Automated Targeting System (ATS) is used by federal officials to assign a “risk assessment” score to travelers entering the country by land, sea, and air so as to determine whether they pose a security threat. Is the ATS legal, though? House Homeland Security chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) wants to know. He sent a letter late last week to DHS saying the computerized traveler screening program appears to be operating in “legal limbo” and risks violating privacy laws. Thompson wanted to know whether DHS will issue a new “system of records notice” for the program.

Congress Daily’s Chris Strohm reports that controversy engulfed the program last year when DHS published an original system of records notice for it. A coalition of groups ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the corporate travel industry submitted comments to the department criticizing the program. Thompson wanted to know whether changes will be made to the program in light of the sheer volume of comments the dempartment received. “Several months have passed and this very troublesome program remains in existence without any indication from either the privacy officer or [Customs and Border Protection] regarding the issuance of a new [notice] or whether changes will ultimately be made,” Thompson wrote in in his letter last week. “Since a final decision has not been made on whether a new [notice] will be released, CBP is operating this program in legal limbo, at a risk to the privacy rights of the traveling public.”

A DHS spokesman said the department is working on issuing a new notice, but could not say when it would be published. “We continue to make progress on this effort,” the spokesman said. “We received a large number of public comments, which is a very important part of the process. We are reviewing each of those comments individually and, as appropriate, that input will be part of a [new notice].”

You may recall that last month the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the department has never comprehensively described the entire traveler screening process, especially for aviation passengers. “CBP’s current disclosures do not fully inform the public about all of its systems for prescreening aviation passenger information nor do they explain how CBP combines data in the prescreening process, as required by law,” GAO wrote. “As a result, passengers are not assured that their privacy is protected during the international passenger prescreening process.”