Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

David Nelsons get airport scrutiny

Even FBI agents aren't immune to a computer glitch that is causing airline passengers named David Nelson to be detained at airports nationwide.

FBI Special Agent David Nelson is stopped every time he tries to get on a plane, even though homeland security is his job.

"The first time it happened was in 2002, when I found myself surrounded by six police officers in the El Paso (International) Airport," said Nelson, who works in the FBI's El Paso field office. "FBI agents are required to fly armed, so I had a gun with me.

"I was getting a little antsy when the officers tapped me on the shoulder, but we were able to get it resolved."

The problems for David Nelsons are tied to a Transportation Security Administration list of people considered threats to civil aviation, or who are known foreign terrorists. The people on that list are not supposed to be allowed onto airplanes. Some airlines have tried to incorporate the "no-fly" list into their computer reservation systems, TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said.

"The reservation software is not designed to handle this kind of information," Turmail said. "The software is like what you use to send an e-mail where you type in the first three letters of the address and it pops up on the screen.

"So what's happening is that people whose name is close to or matches a name on the list are having to wait 20 to 25 minutes while their identities are checked."

David Nelsons across the country who have run into the problem say it often amounts to delays twice that long, however.

Special Agent Nelson says he now gives himself an extra 45 minutes when he goes to the airport, and also makes a point to tell airline employees not only that he is an FBI agent, but that his name will likely raise a red flag in their computer system.

Retired IBM employee David Nelson, one of at least five other David Nelsons who live in the Las Vegas Valley, doesn't fly often, but said he isn't looking forward to the prospect of being forced to wait while being questioned by police or the FBI.

"It's kind of funny now, but I don't think it would be very funny if I was pulled out of line and had to wait at the airport," Nelson said. "I don't fly much, but this seems pretty strange."

A David Nelson who lives in Denver told the Rocky Mountain News that he was first stopped at an airport around Thanksgiving 2001, and estimates that he has been stopped about 10 times since then -- sometimes for as long as 45 minutes.

A more well-known David Nelson, the one who appeared on the 1950s ABC sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," told the Los Angeles Daily News that he was stopped in California in December while trying to fly to Salt Lake City to visit his daughter.

A new computer system that will check the "no-fly" list against the passenger list when tickets are purchased will solve the problem, but it isn't scheduled to come online until early 2004, security officials said.

In the meantime passengers who are being forced to wait because of their name can call the TSA at (571) 227-2383. These passengers will be asked to fill out an identification form so that they won't be misidentified in the future, Turmail said.

But if you want to find out in advance whether your name will cause you problems at the airport, you can't. The "no-fly" list is kept confidential, TSA spokeswoman Suzanne Luber said.

She said she wouldn't even "confirm or deny that the name David Nelson is, or was ever, on a no-fly list."

The FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration started the list shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Las Vegas FBI spokesman Special Agent Daron Borst said.

The FBI has had to send agents to McCarran International Airport periodically to determine the identities of passengers whose names match names on the "no- fly" list, Borst said.

"As much information about the person as possible is provided in the list, but sometimes it's not very much," Borst said.

Borst said he knows of no instances where a person attempting to board a flight at McCarran was actually on the "no-fly" list.

Hilarie Grey, a McCarran spokeswoman, said that passengers with names that match those on "no-fly" lists are often faced with some extra identity checks and waits.

"It's something we've seen for a long time," Grey said. "It's not really that unusual, but in this instance I guess the difference is that David Nelson is such a common name."

It's just another of the security-related delays air travelers can encounter in the post-Sept. 11 world, officials said.

Even Gov. Kenny Guinn frequently gets searched when he flies between Reno and LasVegas, according to his spokesman Greg Bortolin.

"I think it's because a lot of the time he is using one-way tickets," said Bortolin, adding that Guinn understands the necessity of the security measures. "When this all started and the first lady heard that the governor might have to remove his shoes at the airport she went out and bought him all new socks."

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