U.S. Spies Probably Won't Blow Up Our Airplanes, TSA Concludes

TV spy Maxwell Smart holding his shoe phone. Photo: Wikimedia

ASPEN, Colorado ' For years, America's spies had to take off their shoes before they got on planes, just like the rest of us. No more. The Transportation Security Administration has quietly enrolled government employees at three of the nation's intelligence agencies in a program that allows them to pass through airport security with less hassle.

It's part of a larger push by TSA chief John Pistole to move away from the brain-dead, one-size-fits-all mindset that treats all passengers as equally likely terror risks. That effort is still very much a work in progress; just last month, for example, a female flier was groped by a TSA screener ' so she groped back, and was promptly arrested.

Still, there are signs of sanity emerging. Kids are no longer subject to pat-downs. And certain elite members of frequent flier programs from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, U.S. Airways, and Alaska Airlines can keep their shoes on and their laptops inside their bags at 19 airports. Two million passengers have now gone through the so-called 'pre check' program, since it was begun last year. The logic is that these people fly all the time, and have given their personal information to the airlines. That makes them rather unlikely terrorists.

Same goes for the more than 800,000 people who hold top secret clearances in this country. They've already gone through all kinds of background checks. So, intelligence community consultant Jim Carlson asked Pistole at Friday's session of the Aspen Security Forum, why not let them sign up for this 'pre check,' too.

Well actually, Pistole told the group, somewhat sheepish, we are.

'We haven't advertised that,' he said, but the TSA signed an agreement with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper in February to do include members of the intelligence community in 'pre check.'

It's a voluntary program, Pistole added. 'So, if for example you have a NOC [a "non official cover," or spy without any open connection to the government] who doesn't want to be identified in any way, it's optional.'

'The beauty of it from my perspective is that the information that the person is a known and trusted traveler is embedded in a bar code [in the passport]. And it doesn't distinguish between a member of the intel community [and a] frequent flier,' Pistole told the Forum (where, full disclosure, I'm serving as a panel moderator). ' So the security officer at the checkpoint doesn't know whoever you are.'

The increased security measures at American airports have become a substantial burden for undercover agents, as Danger Room reported in April. The use of eye-scanners and biometricallly-enhanced passports have made it tough for a spy to assume another identity. But if that spy is willing to use her own name, well, she can go right ahead keep her heels on. In the bizarre world of post-9/11 security, that counts as a small sign of progress.