Thread: M3: Obama moving towards a "Trusted Traveler" plan

Obama Administration moving towards a "Trusted Traveler" plan that will eliminate US Boundaries with Mexico and Canada
m3report | January 4, 2011 at 7:26 am | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pg2Ga-SX

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) extracts and condenses the material that follows from Mexican and Central and South American on-line media sources on a daily basis. You are free to disseminate this information, but we request that you credit NAFBPO as being the provider.

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PROPOSAL FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AND REFORM

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La Prensa (Honduras) 1/3/2011

Paraguay Announces Main Prison Closure

(Assumption, Paraguay) The Paraguayan government has announced it is closing the overcrowded prison at Tacumbú and will transfer the 3, 000 inmates to another prison. President Fernando Lugo has pledged to reform the prison system which will require $20-25 million. Tacumbú Prison is located in a populous neighborhood, and was built for 1, 000 prisoners but now holds 3, 000.

http://tinyurl.com/23r9v52
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El Imparcial (Mexico) 1/3/2011

Marijuana Found Between Tomatoes

(Nogales, Sonora) A shipment of more than 2 tons of marijuana was the last recorded seizure at the Nogales Port of Entry (into the U.S.), and was discovered among a shipment of tomatoes. Per the (U.S.)
Customs & Border Protection, unusual images were detected on X-ray and as they climbed pallets to check, the canine alerted to the drugs. (Estimated value $4.2 million; both drugs & tractor trailer were
seized)

http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLin ... /03012011/
487779.aspx

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La Cronica de Hoy (Mexico) 1/3/2011

Narco Tunnel Found near Nogales Border

Mexican Army personnel located a tunnel at an abandoned house along the border. The tunnel did not extend into the U.S. The tunnel was 60 by 45 inches in diameter, 1.5 meters deep and 30 meters long. No drugs or weapons were found.

http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=552768

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Frontera (Mexico) 1/3/2011

Bus Bomb Leaves Five Dead in Guatemala

(Guatemala, Guatemala) At least five people were burned to death Guatemala and more than a dozen suffered severe burns, including a child. Gangs target buses for extortion, making drivers pay a ‘road
tax’ in exchange for not attacking.

http://tinyurl.com/33zecq3
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Violence continues:

- Decapitated male head only, and a female body with a narco message- Tijuana
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_drug_war_mexico
- Explosions & shooting in Monterrey Monday afternoon
- Public safety deputy director assassinated in front of wife & child
Monday-Sonora

Domestic News - United States

Mexico drug war a nightmare scenario
http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/03/frum.mexico.risk/
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FM 755 Exodus-Texas-family being forced to move due to cartel danger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP0xXcAUISU
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Mexico cites breakdown in La Familia cartel
http://tinyurl.com/28agkwn
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Report: Many Americans still re-entering U.S. without proper documentation
http://tinyurl.com/29qqrf6
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Want a false Social Security card? There’s a blog for that
http://tinyurl.com/2678cvd
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Border Patrol agents find marijuana in Hidalgo sewer-Texas

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=562306
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'Trusted traveler' plan eliminates US boundary with Mexico and Canada, too
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=247113
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Greece to Build Wall along Turkish Border
http://www.jpost.com/International/Arti ... ?id=201833
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-end of report-

The Trusted Traveler Porgram isn't new and it isn't just for Canada and Mexico.
It's been around since 2001.

TRUSTED TRAVELER PROGRAM TIMELINE

How the government's Registered Traveler program has developed:

2001: After 9/11, airline industry executives and some security experts ask the government to consider expedited security clearance for known air travelers.

Summer 2004: The Transportation Security Administration begins testing a trusted traveler program. Starting with Northwest Airlines customers at Minneapolis-St. Paul, TSA works with four airlines to test the program at five airports.

June 2005: Orlando airport hires Manhattan-based Verified Identity Pass to operate a privately run the trusted traveler program there.

July 2005: Orlando starts its program with 4,000 subscribers who had paid $80 for a year. TSA officials say that private companies, not the government, will operate Registered Traveler programs.

September 2005: TSA ends its test programs.

January 2007: Airports at Indianapolis, Cincinnati and San Jose, Calif., launch their programs.
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Trusted traveler programs grow

Updated 5/2/2007 11:41 AM

By Roger Yu, USA TODAY
4/30/2007

The slow-developing program to give expedited passage at airport security to trusted travelers who pay a fee is finally gaining traction.

More than five years after it was proposed following the 9/11 terrorism, trusted traveler programs are operating at six airports. Five more airports in recent weeks have signed with a private partner to operate the government's Registered Traveler program.

And at least four others — Washington Dulles, Reagan Washington National, Denver and San Francisco — say they're shopping for partners to run their Registered Traveler programs.

"We're pleased there are some competitors anticipated in the marketplace," says Bill Connors, executive director of the National Business Travel Association, which supports the program. "More choice, the better."

The Registered Traveler program allows certain airline passengers, for an annual membership fee, to quickly go through a separate airport security lane. Customers must pass a government background check and submit biometric information such as fingerprints or an iris scan to be read by an electronic device at the gate.

The Transportation Security Administration has given five companies at least preliminary approval to manage the program for airports. It requires that the members of one program be allowed to use others' lanes.

The program at Jacksonville by Vigilant Solutions gives subscribers expedited passage but has yet to use biometric identification at its checkpoint. The company says it's moving in that direction and expects this year to have pre-screening and biometric verification.

Vigilant Solutions, a radio frequency technology firm, calls its program the Preferred Traveler Program. For $149 a year, its members can go directly to a speedy check-in lane at Jacksonville that is also used by flight crews.

They can't yet use their card at other airports that have a Registered Traveler program. But Julie Venditti, Vigilant's chief technology officer, says that will change once its program gets fully certified by TSA as a Registered Traveler program.

She says the company is hoping for the final TSA approval this month. Today, only New York-based Verified Identity Pass, or VIP, is operating a full-fledged program that involves pre-screening of travelers. About 45,000 travelers pay $100 a year to belong. But VIP is soon to get full-fledged competition from companies other than Vigilant.

Unisys, a security technology company based in Blue Bell, Pa., is targeting May 15 to roll out its Registered Traveler program, RTGo, at its first airport, Reno/Tahoe International. It has pre-enrolled about 100 customers.

FLO, a subsidiary of biometrics technology firm Saflink in Kirkland, Wash., signed its first airport customer, Huntsville, Ala., in March.

Its target date for the service is October, says Kevin Mitchell, a consultant working with FLO, which stands for Fast Lane Option.

While Huntsville's passenger traffic isn't as heavy as at larger airports, the company is also hoping to entice business travelers who frequently travel to Washington, D.C., and other cities with airports that will have a Registered Traveler program.

Verant Identification Systems, based in Rochester, N.Y., has initial approval from TSA but declined to discuss its plans.

Some airports not interested

But Registered Traveler continues to struggle against the indifference or opposition from many in the aviation business.

The Air Transport Association, a trade group of airlines, says in a statement that limited TSA resources "should not be diverted from efficiently and effectively screening all passengers, to a program that provides limited and questionable benefits for some customers."

Dallas/Fort Worth, one of the nation's busiest airports, has so far shown no interest in the Registered Traveler program. "Passenger security and efficiency should be readily available for all passengers," DFW spokesman David Magaña says.

Frequent business traveler Carl Woodin, who runs a multimedia firm in Maple Glen, Pa., says he won't join a program until "they can guarantee that I won't have to take off my shoes and take my two laptops out every time I go through security."

Richard Schmidt, president of consulting firm Conventional Wisdom in Ocoee, Fla., is a satisfied customer of VIP but has "no interest in joining [members-only] clubs or receiving other discounts."

"Keep the pricing reasonable and focus on the main security issues," he says.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/ ... usat_N.htm

Will elderly nuns qualify or must they continue to submit to searches by Muslim women?

11/30/2010

. . . In Mexico City, Secretary Napolitano and Mexico Ministry of the Interior Secretary José Francisco Blake Mora signed an agreement expressing their intent to develop a Global Entry international trusted traveler program pilot between the United States and Mexico–leveraging the success of the United States' Global Entry program to facilitate secure, legitimate travel between the two nations.

Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) program that allows pre-approved members who have undergone robust background checks and provided biometrics expedited customs processing–reducing average wait times while allowing law enforcement to focus on the most serious security threats at points of entry to our country. At Global Entry kiosks, members insert their passport or lawful permanent resident card into a document reader, provide digital fingerprints for comparison with fingerprints on file, answer customs declaration questions on the kiosk's touch-screen, and then present a transaction receipt to CBP officers before leaving the inspection area.

Secretary Napolitano, Minister Blake Mora and Mexican Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Julian Ventura also signed a Letter of Intent between DHS, Mexico's Secretariat of Governance and Secretariat of Foreign Affairs affirming their shared commitment to collaborating on a strategic plan for the expedited and humane repatriation of Mexican nationals to the interior of Mexico.

The Letter of Intent builds on the framework of 30 Local Arrangements for the Repatriation of Mexican Nationals between consular and immigration authorities of both nations established by Secretary Napolitano and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa on April 3, 2009–formalizing the operational coordination between governments to guarantee a safe, orderly and humane repatriation process.

On Monday, Secretary Napolitano visited Panama City to meet with her international counterparts and sign a new Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Panama that will enhance information sharing and help secure the international aviation system against terrorism and international crime.

For more information on CBP Trusted Traveler programs, visit www.cbp.gov/travel .

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This page was last reviewed/modified on November 30, 2010.

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1291143177817.shtm
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