Tired of waiting in line at the airport? Don’t you wish there was an express lane, like on the tollway, where you could just breeze right through? Now there is. The Transportation Stupidity Administration has launched a Registered Traveler pilot program whereby frequent travelers can go through a one-time screening process and afterwards greatly reduce their wait and screening time at airport security checkpoints. Read all about how the Registered Traveler program works (PDF).

Great idea, right? Yeah, it’s great, right up until the point the terrorists start becoming registered travelers.

Bruce Schneier, author of Beyond Fear, points out that the “basic security intuition is that when you create two paths through security — an easy path and a hard path — you invite the bad guys to take the easy path.” Terrorists will be lining up to register for this program. They don’t care if the government knows who they are before they’ve done anything. And if they plan to die in the process of committing their act of terrorism, it doesn’t really matter if they’re registered or not. See more on the fallacy of confusing identification with security.

In further news, Verified Identity Pass has been chosen to run the trusted traveler program at Orlando International Airport. Having a private company issue ID cards has its own set of problems, not least of which is can they be trusted with terrorist watch lists?

An article at TomPaine.com goes into more depth on why terrorists love this program, and how it creates the appearance of security while its actual effects are likely to be something else entirely.

Would-be terrorists simply could probe the system by having each member apply for “registered” status until a sufficient number qualified. They then could embark on [an attack] with greater confidence … So long as we honestly confront the real issues necessary to maximize security … we’ll end up with a better system than we will by dodging tough choices. Instead, we’re on the verge of creating what’s likely to become the largest surveillance system in American history, but with virtually no public awareness.