The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently released the list of airports that have expressed interest in participating in the first phase of the Registered Traveler program. You remember - that's where frequent fliers sign up, pay for a special ID card, submit their fingerprints, get an FBI clearance, and then wait in a shorter line to go thru airport security.

The interesting part is that TSA would not release the list until USA Today filed a Freedom of Information Act request. Only a few of the 22 airports had publicly announced their interest in the program and to work in concert with one of the competing vendors. A pilot program has been running in Orlando for quite some time.

For the record, the TSA list includes, alphabetically, Albany, N.Y.; Anchorage; Atlanta; Baltimore/Washington; Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago Midway; Chicago O'Hare; Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky; Denver; Huntsville, Ala.; Indianapolis; Jacksonville; Little Rock, Ark.; Los Angeles; Miami; Pittsburgh; Reno-Tahoe; San Jose, Calif.; Springfield/Branson, Mo.; Waco, Texas; Washington Dulles; and Washington Reagan National.

Why would TSA hold back on announcing those airports who may want to implement one of the agency's foremost PR efforts to allow people to speed through security? A large part of the answer is found in four words: "expressed interest" and "may want". Admittedly, I have not done due diligence in calling all the airports to verify their status, but as a long-time industry observer, the word on the runway is that the majority of those airports have merely "expressed interest" - in effect, show me what you've got, show me that it really works, show me that it won't adversely affect my operations, and then, just maybe, we'll play.

One of the biggest bugaboos continues to be interoperability. There must be a single technological standard for all such programs, so that the traveler's registration works with all the participating vendors, not just his home base. There's also going to have to be some consistency established by TSA in its screener workforce regarding exactly how register traveler functions on the front lines, so that the fee-paying traveler can expect some predictability in how their enhanced security status is handled at the screening checkpoint.

TSA published "Security, Privacy and Compliance Standards for Sponsoring Entities and Service Providers" on October 24th, which may or may not help settle some of the differences among vendor proposals. It's a performance standard; that is, the goals to be achieved, not the technical horse you ride to get there. I am reminded of the battle some years ago between Sony and Betamax VCR formats - both worked fine, but the marketplace would only support one.

OK, vendors - let's see what you've got.

Art Kosatka is CEO of TranSecure, an aviation consultancy in Virginia; he'll respond to questions or comments at .