The "homeland" tracking its own and their gastric preferences: the ATS for international travelers
Another stroke of brilliance from our department of "Homeland" Security: the Automated Targeting System, or ATS. A system that's been in place for some years and used vigrously since 9/11, it electronically tracks all passengers going in and out of the US, going so far as to even record the meal that you order on a plane. Now, I always had problems getting back and forth between the US and China, and I knew there must be something behind it, but I never thought it would be anything this ridiculous! The most outrageous part is that the information gathered by this system is shared with state, local and foreign governments for use in hiring, contracting and licensing decisions. This electronic analysis could actually determine whether or not you're granted a job in the States or a work visa internationally. And the kicker is that you yourself can't look at your file or challenege any of its contents.
According to this AP story, ATS electronically rates your threat as a terrorist or other criminal based on a set of criteria. The system analyzes this data: current travel records, past travel records, what meal you order on the plane, what seat placement you prefer, your motor vehicle records from the US, how you paid for tickets and where you're from.
Let's imagine how a regular person like, say, me could hold up against this electronic scrutiny:
1. In the past three years, I've visited three communist countries, one of which I actually lived in and one of which happened to be North Korea. I also visited Thailand, a country for which the US State Department regularly puts out traveler advisories because of the Muslim uprisings and violence there. Strike one.
2. I regularly opt for the Asian meal and green tea on the plane. They're both healthier options than the western food and soda I could order, and I like the way they taste. Imagine how screwed I'd be if they actually served Muslim food on the planes I've traveled on! Strike two.
3. I keep a car in the US, even though I don't live or have a residence there, and the insurance is paid by someone other than me. Strike three.
4. I regularly use a credit card issued in the US to buy things, including my plane tickets and items that are shipped to various addresses in the States, while I am overseas. I also regularly wire money home to an account there that has two other people's names on it. For two years, I did this through Western Union which has a bad rep as a money laundering tool for drug dealers. Strike four.
5. It doesn't help that every time I get on a plane they seem to confiscate something off of me. The first time I came back to the states, I had some Chinese DVDs that were taken. My name was put on a list. That same trip, they confiscated a lighter from me. It was a silly gift for a friend that had a giant picture of Mao Zedong and played the Chinese national anthem when you opened it. I thought a lighter was a funny thing to make nationalistic, but the customs officials didn't see my side. I literally banged my head against a table in my frustration during that little incident: they'd let me on the trans-Pacific American airplane with the lighter, the one with hundreds of people on it. But I was a threat to the 23 other passengers flying the prop to Oklahoma City. So again I watched my name go down on a list. The next time I flew home, they confiscated yet another silly lighter. (China was full of these and I thought they were hilarious!) This one was a little metal mock-up of one of the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi'an, and when you pushed on his topknot, his head opened and fire came out. Knee slapper, right? Not to United Airlines. My name. List. You know the story by now. That time, they even made a phone call about me I was so dangerous. Strikes five, six and seven?
So based on the criteria set forth by the ATS, any computer looking at me might just put up a red flag. And it wouldn't surprise me if this were the case. Getting in and out of the US has been a chore for me ever since the first trip. Upon my first return to the US from China in 2004, I was welcomed by an immigration official barking accusatory questions at me about my life and business in China. I honestly couldn't believe the treatment I got. When I tried to leave the US for China another time, I got orange carded and sent to the extra inspection line. The only other people in that line where a coworker whose final destination was China and a Chinese citizen. Since that incident, I've been orange carded every single time I've tried to leave. It's kind of like a bad soccer joke: more than a warning, but not necessarily an expulsion. Fitting that yellow and red make orange? I bet the people at Homeland Security came up with that one right after they finalized the color coded terrorism advisory chart. It's a nice little tie-in: orange is for "high risk of terrorist attacks." And that seemingly benign color seems to have it in for this little ole Oklahoma girl.
