US considers tiered checks at airports

In the wake of the furor last fall over pat-downs and body scanners at airports, several industry organisations are working on proposals to overhaul security checkpoints to provide more or less scrutiny based on the risk profile of each traveler.

In the wake of the furor last fall over pat-downs and body scanners at airports, several industry organisations are working on proposals to overhaul security checkpoints to provide more or less scrutiny based on the risk profile of each traveler.

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While the proposals are in the early stages, they represent a growing consensus around a concept that has the support of John S Pistole, the head of the Transportation Security Administration: divide travelers into three groups - trusted, regular or risky - and apply different screening techniques based on knowledge about passengers.

"Today we have TSA agents looking at TV screens, but they don't know anything about the person going through the system," said Steve Lott, a spokesperson for the International Air Transport Association.

"The idea is to take data that the government and the airlines are already collecting about passengers and bring it to the checkpoint."