Skipping the line at Customs

What typically takes 60 minutes can be reduced to 64 seconds, thanks to the government's Global Entry program. It's available at LAX and other major airports around the country. To enroll, U.S. citizens pay $100, pass a government background check, and get fingerprinted. From the WSJ:

U.S. Customs says Global Entry enhances security by segregating low-risk travelers from people entering the country who might be considered a risk. The agency likes to call it "clearing hay from the haystack." "We can spend less of our resources on low-risk people who have given us information and redeploy those resources to travelers who in theory are higher risk," said John Wagner, executive director for admissibility and passenger programs at U.S. Customs.

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When you land at one of the 20 airports in the program, you scan your passport and fingerprints at a kiosk and answer four questions similar to what's on the customs form handed out on board planes entering the U.S. Global Entry participants don't need to fill out the paper entry form that flight attendants hand out in-flight. The kiosk prints out a receipt that you give to a customs officer to exit.

Makes you wonder why the Customs' sister agency, the Transportation Security Administration, can't come up with a similar system to get passengers through security.