Passengers under the microscope

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

The government plans to do background checks on all airline passengers and assign everyone a threat level. A computer screening system will be tested at three undisclosed airports next month. It will scan terrorism watch lists, and search credit reports and bank records for anything suspicious. Those cleared will be rated green. Anyone labeled yellow will get extra screening. Red won’t fly. Civil liberties groups complained that the new checks, approved by Congress after Sept. 11, would be a violation of privacy and could “create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who cannot travel freely.”