Says 9/11 Commission Recommended Move 

It's a move the Department of Homeland Security says will improve consistency of security operations. On Thursday, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff (right) announced the agency will assume a greater role in checking passenger manifests against government watch lists.

The changes will place greater responsibility for identifying potentially dangerous airline passengers in the hands of the government, with less reliance on the airlines, according to CNN.

Under the current system, airlines gather passenger manifests for international flights, and submit those lists to the federal government -- often with the aircraft already en route -- for cross-checking with no-fly lists. Airlines are responsible for cross-checking manifests against no-fly lists on domestic runs... a task DHS says carriers have not performed adequately.

As part of the new DHS guidelines, the Transportation Security Administration assumes that responsibility from the airlines for all flights within the US. The agency will receive passenger information -- including full names, and date of birth -- as early as 72 hours before a scheduled departure.

For international flights, airlines will be required to submit passenger manifests to the TSA 30 minutes before the departure time, or as each passenger checks in, to give authorities the chance to catch potential suspects before the airliner takes off.

The TSA will begin testing the new system this fall, Chertoff said during a news conference at Reagan International.

In an attempt to ward off privacy concerns, Chertoff stressed the personal information collected would be minimal, and not infringe privacy. Past attempts by DHS to assume control of passenger screening from airlines were foiled by those worried about giving the government too much access.

DHS says the changes follow recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission, to bring more consistent processes to passenger pre-screening. We'll see.

FMI: www.dhs.gov, www.tsa.gov