An Article from the globeandmail.com Web Centre -- MIDRANGE-NONTECH

The following is an article from the globeandmail.com Web Centre.
We have discussed the pros & cons & constitutionality of profiling ... here is
an article about how Canada is using profiling on their borders to try to
protect against people who might be terrorists targeting Canadian
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globeandmail.com, Wednesday, September 19, 2001

Border alert targets pilots

By ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ
>From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
BREAKING NEWS

Men with links to certain Muslim countries and a scientific or aviation
background face tougher questioning at the border as Canadian authorities try
to identify possible terrorists.

An internal bulletin, obtained by The Globe and Mail, instructs border guards
to pay close attention to people who have spent time in Pakistan, Afghanistan
or 14 other countries that are regarded as "zones of conflict or terrorist
training centres."

The profiling bulletin, in response to the suicide-pilot hijackings that
caught the world by surprise last week, is also intended to help block
potential attacks involving nuclear, chemical or germ weapons.

Especially suspect are:

Those with aviation experience or training and those who have applied to take
courses in flying multiengine aircraft;

Those with university or technical-school backgrounds in engineering,
computers, chemistry or physics;

Scientists and technicians in the fields of nuclear energy, defence or
communications.

Border guards are being told to be extra cautious in examining those who have
worked at chemical or nuclear plants "or who have been involved in fields
related to atomic research or other sensitive sectors such as weapons
manufacturing, including biological and chemical weapons."

The bulletin labelled Protected, Canadian Eyes Only, For Official Eyes Only
has been issued to all Canadian air, land and marine ports of entry.

It is the first inside look at how Canada's 570 port-of-entry immigration
officers and 2,500 customs officers are expected to provide the extra vigilance
demanded of them in the wake of history's most effective terrorist attack.

"In order to assist frontline officers in screening individuals seeking entry
to Canada a list of indicators has been developed. Officers are reminded that
these indicators should be used on a case-by-case basis and should not alone be
used to bar the admission of persons to Canada."

The tough new guidelines could add to delays at border crossings, where
traffic has already been slowed as guards pay much closer attention to
travellers after last week's attacks in New York and Washington.

The bulletin is in two parts, the first listing "the employment/background
characteristics that may identify terrorists" and the second listing "the
travel routes and patterns that may identify Islamic terrorists."

The first includes those with travel documents from countries accused of
sponsoring terrorism and non-citizens of Algeria carrying Algerian passports
and so-called Algerian courtesy passports, which have been issued to
Palestinians and others.

The bulletin says that Islamic terrorists are usually males between 16 and 50.

It says the most common travel route of those with possible terrorist links is
from their home countries to either Pakistan or Afghanistan.

"From there," it says, "they may travel to the various jihad [holy war]
conflict zones or for selected terrorist operations abroad or back to their
home countries to wait for instructions."

The alert lists 16 countries of concern, almost all having majority Muslim
populations, which it describes as having the "zones of conflict or terrorist
training centres."

Border guards are asked to be especially careful in examining anyone who has
travelled to at least two of the following locations:

Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon,
Pakistan, Russia (Chechnya and Dagestan regions), Saudi Arabia, Sudan,
Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

Huguette Shouldice, a spokesperson for the Immigration Department, said the
department would not discuss a leaked document.

"And we're not going to discuss our strategies in trying to stop terrorists.
That would be totally inappropriate. It gives the terrorists exactly what they
want, to know exactly what it is we're looking for."

More rigorous examinations by profiling of people from certain countries can
be controversial, but Ms. Shouldice would not say whether some groups might
view the bulletin as offensive.

"The only thing that I can say is that this is not the only information that
we give our officers at the ports of entry. This happens to be in response to
the situation that just occurred last week. There is all kinds of other
information and we can't discuss what people are looking for."

After the 1996 midair explosion of TWA Flight 800 over the Atlantic en route
to Paris, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration adopted an automated
security system called CAPPS, for Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening
System.

It went into effect in 1998 for all domestic airports and U.S. airlines
overseas. Officials say the system is not based on race, ethnicity, religion or
gender.

According to U.S. news media, a 1998-2000 report by the Arab-American
Anti-Discrimination Committee Washington, D.C., disagreed, citing nearly a
dozen cases in which Arab travellers were detained and searched for hours in
front of other passengers.

"The disproportionate number of complaints made by Arab-Americans indicates
that profiling either targets Arab-Americans, or, at the very least, is having
a disparate impact on them," the report said.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said in June that the system would
be audited. "Safety is the Department of Transportation's highest priority,"
Mr. Mineta said at the time. "But we must also protect the civil rights of
airline passengers."

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