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Mineta Stands Fast Against Racial Profiling of Airline Passengers

By Jonathan D. Salant | Associated Press
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ARLINGTON, Virginia (AP) -- Phillip Christy, waiting to fly from Reagan National Airport to Seattle, has been randomly singled out for extra screening a few times since Sept. 11. He says it's only fair.

"Random is appropriate," said Christy, of Fredrick, Maryland. ``It's unexpected as to who they might look for.''

That's what Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta says as well, though his opposition to considering a person's ethnicity in the interest of airline security puts him at odds with some members of Congress.

``It is very tempting to take false comfort in the belief that we can spot the bad guy based on appearance alone,'' Mineta told an Arab-American group in Detroit recently. ``Some are yielding to that temptation in their arguments for racial profiling, but false comfort is a luxury we cannot afford.''

All passengers are screened by a computerized profiling system -- which takes into account travel history, how the tickets were paid for, whether the trip was one-way or roundtrip, and other factors that are classified -- and selects some travelers for additional checks, including luggage searches.

Other passengers are randomly singled out for additional screening, a policy that angers some lawmakers when they see elderly women in wheelchairs or infirm Army veterans being pulled out of line.

``It's not known that aged World War II veterans or grandmothers are any part of any threat profile by any known intelligence agency,'' said Rep. Peter DeFazio, a member of the House aviation subcommittee.

But Mineta, whose family was interned during World War II because of their Japanese ancestry, steadfastly objects to using a person's ethnicity when selecting passengers for extra screening.

Some lawmakers, nevertheless, insist that it should be one of the many strategies used.

``You have to have a broad range of identifying characteristics,'' said Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee. ``I have no problem with the country of origin; that can help sort out some of the bad guys. What we have advocated is using a combination of identifying characteristics.

``If the administration doesn't act, Congress will,'' Mica said.

Mineta is backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argues that racial profiling is an inexpensive and ineffective way to provide airline security.

``It's both over-inclusive and under-inclusive,'' ACLU Legislative Counsel Rachel King said. ``The overwhelming majority of people who are flying are not terrorists, and it's under-inclusive because you're not going to catch people who don't fit the profile. We have to develop the best security we can and apply it to everybody.''

Even as she agreed that random profiling was fairest, Diana McIntyre of Lorton, Virginia, said security personnel still might give extra scrutiny to members of certain ethnic groups.

``Even if your boss says, 'Don't do it,' human nature is going to kick in,'' said McIntyre, waiting at National Airport with her 2-year-old daughter, Willie, for some family members to arrive from Chicago.

Mineta said grandmothers could be duped by terrorists, the same way the Arab boyfriend of a 32-year-old pregnant Irish woman hid a bomb in her bag before she tried to board an El Al flight in 1986. The Israeli airline's security agents discovered the bomb during preflight questioning.

In addition, Mineta spokesman Chet Lunner said that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh; alleged shoe-bomber Richard Reid; and Jose Padilla, charged with plotting to set off a radioactive ``dirty'' bomb, don't fit the stereotype of an Arab terrorist.

Still, Islamic terrorist groups don't have a multiethnic pool of suicide bombers to choose from, said George Washington University professor Jonathan Turley, who testified before Congress in favor of using racial profiling as one of several criteria.

``Even before Sept. 11, the al-Qaida organization knew that Arab males were more likely to be viewed suspiciously in any random stop at an airport and they didn't go and find a dozen Swedes,'' Turley said. ``The al-Qaida organization does not have the multi-varied applicant pool of a large corporation.''