Terrorist travel tracked
Chris Jenkins
DECEMBER 10, 2002 

CUSTOMS is targeting terrorists with technology that allows 
officers to track passenger data and travel patterns.  

The Australian Customs Service's system, which searches airline 
reservation databases and identifies potential threats, is part 
of the Federal Government's $33 million campaign to beef-up 
border security.  

Citing security concerns, a spokeswoman for Customs declined to give 
operational details of the system, confirming only that it "allows 
Customs to access and evaluate information held in an airline 
reservation system.  

"It provides a range of functions enabling Customs to determine, 
in advance of the arrival of a flight, if a particular passenger 
poses a potential risk," the spokeswoman said.  

The spokeswoman also declined to confirm which airlines had 
connected to the system.  

Customs officials told the Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation 
Committee that the software went live in the week starting November 18. 

Customs officers also answered questions from the Committee on 
privacy concerns on the project.  

Funds for the project were made available in the last federal budget.  

The Federal Government put aside $33 million over four years to 
"provide border control authorities with access to international 
air computer reservation and departure control systems and facilitate 
data sharing between border control authorities, including immigration 
systems.  

"This will increase the capacity to screen arriving and departing 
international passengers to enable better detection and interception 
of illegal activities, principally directed at terrorism, but also 
helpful in the fight against drug trafficking and people smuggling."  

Customs would not confirm if funding for the project had been brought 
forward as a result of the recent attacks in Bali.  

"The project has been a priority since the monies became available and 
the legislation went through. It remains a priority," the spokeswoman 
said.  

But Customs' submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional 
Legislation Committee admitted that it had hoped to go operational 
with the system sooner.  

"One of the complications for us was that one of the major airlines 
was changing its reservation systems at the time and we had to make 
that transition as well. We have successfully made that transition," 
an officer told the committee.  

"We are now setting about connecting the other airlines."  

The system is based around the Qik Analysis3 product from travel 
industry specialist Sabre.  

Qantas confirmed that it had been working with customs to install 
the systems. A Qantas spokeswoman said the project was being run 
by customs with the assistance of Qantas staff.  

Singapore Airlines was also in the process of integrating the system 
with its own proprietary Kriscom reservation system and expected to 
go online with Customs soon, a spokesman for the airline said.  

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Source: "Australian IT" ...
australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,5644940%5E15306%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html

Cheers, Steve..

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