National Academies Press: OpenBook

Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers (2012)

Chapter: Appendix D - Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D - Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13650.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D - Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13650.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D - Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13650.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D - Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13650.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix D - Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13650.
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Page 102

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D-1 Primer on Airport Processes and Border Risk Management To understand the potential risk and/or issues that arriving international passengers present to federal agencies, it is important to understand the start of the journey. Figure D-1 outlines the current processes that take place up to departure at originating airports and that provide additional information which enables improved risk management. In the past, border agencies were confined to a limited set of tools generally focused at the U.S. airport of entry (e.g., passport control, customs declaration form, etc.). However since 9/11, CBP and the DHS have invested human and financial resources to “push out the border” in order to improve their intelligence prior to a passenger boarding an aircraft. Throughout the past decade, the developments in advance passenger information, biometric entry visa require- ments, and intelligence gathering, among others, have radically transformed the nature of pre- departure processes. As shown in Figure D-1, new tools, technologies, and processes have emerged to complement traditional risk management capabilities at the originating airport or country before departure to the United States. Each of the processes is described in the following pages and outlines the potential issue, mitigating factor, and how it benefits CBP’s risk management. The evolution of the CBP and TSA pre-departure risk management capabilities should warrant discussion for how these complement, benefit, or negate the need for passengers and their checked baggage to appear together in the FIS area. A p p e n d i x d Figure D-1. Airport-of-origin process.

D-2 elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving international passengers Entry Visa/US-VISIT Risk: Identity management and inadmissible individuals arriving to the United States Mitigation: Visa approval requires biometric confirmation of traveler identity and advance screening of traveler A citizen of a foreign country who seeks to enter the United States generally must first obtain a U.S. visa. Exceptions have been given to 39 countries for visa-free travel—36 under the Visa Waiver Program and 3 under provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. An entry visa provides CBP the ability to confirm an intending traveler’s identity, purpose of travel (e.g., business, student, temporary visitor) and compare their history against CBP intel- ligence. All of this information assists CBP to better understand their qualifications for admissi- bility, but an approved visa does not guarantee admission to the United States upon arrival. The visa is obtained at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the originating country through an interview process. The CBP officer interviewing the traveler is responsible for admission of travelers to the United States, for a specified status and period of time. The evolution of visa requirements to now require visa applicants to provide biometrics— digital fingerprints and a photograph—has further enhanced the risk management of CBP upon the passenger’s arrival to the United States. In particular, the introduction of U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) confirms the identity of the traveler with a visa through biometric confirmation upon presentation to CBP at the port of entry. Electronic System for Travel Authorization Risk: Visa Waiver Program (VWP) applicants who could pose a risk to the United States (e.g., links to terrorism) Mitigation: Conduct enhanced screening of VWP applicants in advance of travel to the United States Introduced in 2009, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is a web-based system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program. ESTA is similar in concept and functionality to the Electronic Travel Authority implemented in Australia in 1996. VWP nationals are required to complete an online form con- sisting of name, birth date, passport document, and travel intentions among others (i.e., same fields as the Form I-94W). In return, the intending traveler is provided an immediate response to confirm or deny their eligibility to travel to the United States. ESTA applications may be submitted at any time prior to travel; however, it is recom- mended travelers apply when they begin preparing travel plans. The critical benefit for CBP and the DHS is the ability to pre-screen passengers prior to boarding an aircraft destined for the United States.

primer on Airport processes and Border Risk Management D-3 Advance Passenger Information / Passenger Name Record Risk: Passengers with issues noted in law enforce- ment data, intelligence databases, records of lost/ stolen travel documents, prior immigration or customs violations and visa refusals Mitigation: Obtain passenger and travel information and apply targeting rules against passenger name and travel record Shortly after 9/11, the United States implemented a requirement for airlines to submit pas- senger information in advance of the passenger’s arrival to the United States in an effort to pre-screen all international arrivals by air. Advance Passenger Information (API)/Passenger Name Record (PNR) consists of each travelers biographical information and purchase and travel details. Due to the sensitive nature of some of the information, certain originating countries have required country-to-country agreements that have shaped the specific data fields submitted, but generally, 31 fields of data are submitted to CBP for review up to 72 hours prior to departure. Together mandatory submission of API/PNR data has provided CBP the ability to make a number of decisions regarding which passengers require additional inspection at the port of entry based on law enforcement information and other intelligence. Collecting and analyzing this information in advance provides CBP adequate time to research possible matches against derogatory records to eliminate false positives. To date, aviation is the only transport mode subject to mandatory API/PNR submissions. Trusted Traveler Programs Risk: Prescreening of passengers Mitigation: Thorough prescreening of low- risk pre-approved travelers enables greater focus on passengers not pre-screened Several countries (e.g., Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands) have developed trusted traveler programs to pre-screen low-risk travelers in order to deliver a facilitated border crossing process. The ability to pre-screen frequent travelers and remove them from the tradi- tional flow of passengers presenting themselves to a CBP Primary Officer creates a safer environ- ment and enables increased passenger processing per officer. The United States currently offers two such programs for air travelers: Global Entry and NEXUS. Global Entry: Intended for frequent international travelers, but open to all U.S. citizens, Global Entry provides an expedited kiosk-based border clearance process at 20 airports to participants who are deemed “low risk.” Interested individuals are required to submit an online application to outline their personal and professional history in order to be accepted into Global Entry. NEXUS: Beginning in 1999, NEXUS was introduced as a joint Canada and U.S. program to expedite border travel between the two nations. Similar to Global Entry, applicants are required to apply online but the success of the applicant is based on a review by both the U.S. and Cana- dian governments. NEXUS is also available for use at land and marine ports of entry to the United States. Recently, like-minded nations established the Fast Low Risk Universal Crossing (FLUX) alliance to provide a multinational platform from which to establish coordination and recognition of other nations’ trusted traveler programs. The first success was the coordination of the Dutch Privium program and Global Entry for participants of one program to be eligible participants in the other. Additionally, Germany and the United States recently announced an intent to integrate the Ger- man program Automated and Biometric-Supported Border Controls (ABG) into Global Entry.

D-4 elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving international passengers Secure Flight Risk: Travelers identified as not permissible on aircraft destined for (or flying over) the United States Mitigation: Perform a check against a watch list Secure Flight is a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program in which passenger information is collected by the airline when making a reservation. The collected data provides the TSA with an opportunity to pre-screen international and domestic travelers against the U.S. No-Fly List. Since November 2010, the TSA has screened 100 percent of passengers on all domestic and international flights that cross U.S. airspace. The required data is • Name as it appears on government-issued I.D. when traveling, • Date of birth, • Gender, and • Redress number (if available). The airline transmits this information to Secure Flight, which uses it to perform watch list matching. This matching serves to prevent individuals on the No-Fly List from boarding an aircraft and to identify individuals on the Selectee List for enhanced screening. After matching passenger information against government watch lists, Secure Flight transmits an immediate response back to the airlines with the ultimate goal of denying boarding pass issuance if required. Airlines are responsible for ensuring that passengers with positive matches on the No-Fly List are denied boarding. Baggage Image and Weight Risk: Passenger-checked baggage Mitigation: Electronic image and weight measurement matched to passengers Baggage image and weight systems have been installed at a number of Preclearance airports at which security is in advance of Preclearance processes or the airport has a baggage connection pro- gram. The main goal of the system is to manage records of baggage information for use by CBP officers in the Preclearance facility. Baggage items are placed on a weigh conveyor at an induction station. The induction station operator scans the luggage tag barcode, which triggers the digital camera to take a photo and the scale to record the bag weight. The barcode on a passenger’s board- ing pass can be read to retrieve the digital image and weight of all bags associated with the passenger. The system allows CBP officers to view the baggage image and weight despite dropping off lug- gage at a location before approaching the officer. Procedures are in place for physically retrieving bags if the passenger is directed to Secondary for further inspection. Local Outbound Border Agency Inspection Risk: Unknown passenger threats that do not trigger warnings in other risk management tools Mitigation: Gather additional information from foreign border agency, if possible A number of foreign states have outbound border agency inspection in addition to inbound processes. The types of questions posed during interviews and the data collected varies by nation. Depending on country-to-country information-sharing agreements, intelligence gained during outbound inspection can be useful to CBP for travelers entering the United States and potentially making subsequent domestic or international connections.

primer on Airport processes and Border Risk Management D-5 Immigration Advisory Program Risk: Known passenger threats in foreign countries Mitigation: Station CBP officers at foreign airports The Immigration Advisory Program (IAP) stations CBP officers overseas at nine airports in seven countries and is separate from Preclearance. The IAP officers are provided with informa- tion about positive passenger name matches for terrorism screening, U.S. visa revocation, ESTA denials, lost or stolen passports, or persons of interest for public health as provided by the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention. While they do not act in a law enforcement capacity in foreign countries, they play a role in training and providing advice to local law enforcement and airlines in detecting fraudulent travel documents and in irregular migration and in making “no board” recommendations.

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TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 61: Elimination or Reduction of Baggage Recheck for Arriving International Passengers identifies potential alternative procedures that might be implemented to help reduce or eliminate the need for the recheck of baggage for arriving international passengers at U.S. airports.

The report describes the potential benefits and costs to airports, airlines, and federal agencies related to adopting the procedures and also compares the alternative procedures with current practices.

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