London: Airline passengers entering the US from next week will be secretly assigned a computer-generated terror threat rating, based on information as diverse as their car number plate and the meal ordered on the flight.
The rating, which could be used to subject people to extra security checks or even arrest, cannot be seen or challenged and will be held on file for 40 years, The Times, daily reported.
The scores, which can be shared with state and local police, foreign governments, courts and potential government employers, are assigned to people after the computers assess factors including their travel records, where they are from, how they are paid for their tickets, their car records, their seating preference, past one-way travel and what meal they have ordered.
The programme called the Automated Targeting System (ATS), was disclosed by the Department of Homeland Security, which described it as "one of the most advanced targeting systems in the world".
The department said that the system was aimed at discovering high-risk individuals who "may have not been previously associated with a law enforcement action or otherwise be noted as a person of concern to law enforcement".
More than 87 million people a year enter America by air, and 309 million through land or sea, the US Government said.
Federal officials receive advanced passenger and crew lists for all flights and ships entering and leaving the US, and those details are already entered into the ATS system.
According to a notice by the Department of Homeland Security, the ATS system has been exempted from many provisions of the Privacy Act designed to protect people from secret and possibly inaccurate official dossiers.
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