Travel industry praises new DHS-State passenger screening initiatives
The travel industry, usually grumpy about security initiatives, welcomes the administration’s latest travel security initiatives
The travel and screening initiatives DHS unveiled (see story above) were met with praise by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), the leading association for corporate travel managers and suppliers.
NBTA praised the following elements in the new State-DHS initiatives:
* Joint application data access: State and DHS will create a “Global Enrollment Network” that will enable travel document application data to be shared between the agencies, so that applicants’ data will only need to be captured one time.
* Introduction of “an inexpensive, secure, biometric passport card as an alternative to a traditional passport book for use by U.S. citizens in border communities who frequently cross our land borders.”
* Development of an expedited, Registered Traveler-type screening process for frequent travelers at all U.S. ports of entry.
* Improvement of business visa applications processing through pilot programs testing online visa applications and appointment requests, as well as video-conferencing for visa interviews
* Standardization of screening criteria across government agencies by the end of 2006 to create consistency at all screening points
-read more in this news release
