Customs wants lists of all air passengers, foreign & domestic.

[Trei, Peter]

"Obtaining information on passengers traveling within the United States
also could be helpful to law enforcement." - Robert Bonner

Remember, as far as Big Brother is concerned, the end justifies the
means....

This scheme would be greatly facilitated by Gephardt & Ellison's 
proposed ID card/internal passport.

Peter Trei

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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011002/us/attacks_customs_2.html

Tuesday October 2 3:33 AM ET 

Customs Wants Lists of Passengers

By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Airlines should be required to turn over their
advance lists of passengers to screen for possible terrorists, the new
Customs Service commissioner says. 

Robert Bonner, in an interview with The Associated Press, said
Monday he first wants the passenger information for all international
flights headed for the United States. Then, he said, Congress should
consider requiring that such information be turned over for domestic
flights as well. 

The Customs Service has access to about 85 percent of international
flight passenger information under a voluntary program with the airlines.
It has no information on domestic flights. 

``I believe that it would be extremely valuable if there is a requirement
that the airlines provide that information to Customs, to feed it into our
data base and thereby identify potential terrorists or other suspects who
make an attempt to enter the U.S.,'' Bonner said. 

[...]

On air travel, the agency has received information voluntarily from
airlines since 1988 on international air passengers, including names, birth
dates, nationality and travel document numbers. The information is
collected at the time of departure and transmitted to Customs while
flights are en route to the United States. 

Ninety-five air carriers and two governments - Australia's and New
Zealand's - transmit data on international soon-to-arrive air passengers
to a Customs facility in Virginia. Air carriers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Pakistan and Egypt are among those that don't participate, Customs
spokesman Dennis Murphy said. 

To force airlines to give international passenger information to Customs
may require congressional action. 

``For a foreign airline that would be unwilling to provide the information,
we should simply deny the right to land in the United States,'' Bonner
suggested. 

[...]

Obtaining information on passengers traveling within the United States
also could be helpful to law enforcement, he said.