Associated Press
Published March 18, 2004

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration wants to begin testing in June a program that would allow certain airline travelers not considered terrorist threats to avoid extra security inspections at airports, a federal official said Wednesday.

Under the "registered traveler program," passengers would pay a fee and submit to government background checks. If they are not found to be potential threats, they would avoid being randomly selected for the follow-up screening that some travelers face at checkpoints where carry-on bags pass through metal detectors.

David Stone, acting chief of the Transportation Security Administration, said the goal is to move law-abiding travelers more quickly to their planes and permit screeners to focus more on people about whom the government knows less.

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