AVOIDING DIVERSION

Having international flights diverted to Bangor may be good for the city’s coffers, but if the intent of the federal “no-fly list” is to keep potential terrorists out of the air – and this country – passengers need to be more closely checked before a plane takes off. Under the intelligence reform bill crafted by Sens. Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman, the Department of Homeland Security was supposed to have done this by February, but practical considerations make this a difficult task.

Airlines now check ticket purchases against the no-fly list as a preliminary way to keep unwanted passengers off their planes. However, this is just a comparison of names and there are limits on how much information the government can share with private entities such as airlines.

Federal law requires airlines to transmit to the Homeland Security Department the passenger lists for flights bound for the United States within 15 minutes of takeoff. U.S. officials then check the names against terrorist watch lists. This process often takes a couple hours.

Each day, about 2,600 planes fly into the United States. Seven times since the no-fly list was created after the Sept. 11 attacks, planes en route from Europe to the United States have been diverted. Four have come to Bangor, two this month. In one instance, a passenger’s name and birth date appeared to be the same as someone on the no-fly list. It was, however, a case of mistaken identity. In the second diversion the person in question withdrew his application for status as a permanent legal resident and was deported.

The question many, including Sen. Collins, have is why people who aren’t supposed to fly are still ending up on planes. It is, in part, a matter of economics. Rather than hold international flights at departure gates while the passenger manifest is checked, airlines have determined it is worth the extra cost of the rare diversion when a suspicious name is found. Diversions cost airlines because connections are missed, airplanes are tied up in remote locations and crews often work longer hours.

However, as Sens. Collins and Lieberman point out in a sternly worded memo to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff: “That, in fact, is the problem. The potential terrorist is already on board an aircraft headed to the United States.” The senators go on to remind the department that it has missed its deadline and ask for a timetable for compliance with the pre-screening requirement.

Although the Department of Homeland Security is looking for ways to run checks before planes take off, it has yet to settle on a way to do so. Until it does, Bangor will remain in the headlines.