TSA chief chides airlines for 'watch list' errors,
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25835893/
Airlines are to blame for many of the "false positives" that flag passengers for enhanced screening when their names are similar to those on the government's terror watch list, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday. TSA administrator Kip Hawley says many airlines, knowing that the government will soon take over the passenger pre-screening function, have declined to make enhancements to their own database systems that would eliminate innocent passengers by checking for more data to resolve potential matches."We can sort the normal traveler from people on the watch list," Hawley told a House subcommittee.
He sharply criticized airlines that tell passengers "your name is on a watch list." In almost every case, Hawley said, passengers who are flagged are not on the watch list — the airlines simply are not doing the extra work required to resolve a potential false match.
Hawley also said that fewer than 5 percent of the roughly 400,000 people on the terrorism watch list are U.S. citizens.
