WASHINGTON — The government's latest computerized airline-passenger screening program doesn't adequately protect travelers' privacy, according to a congressional report that could further delay a project considered a priority after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Congress last year passed a law that said the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) could spend no money to implement the program, called "Secure Flight," until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that it met 10 conditions. Those include privacy protections, accuracy of data, oversight, cost and safeguards to ensure the system won't be abused or accessed by unauthorized people.

The GAO found nine of the 10 conditions hadn't yet been met and questioned whether Secure Flight would work. "The effectiveness of Secure Flight in identifying passengers who should undergo additional security scrutiny has not yet been determined," the report said.

TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield called the report "interim" and said it contained no surprises.

"The primary cause for the delays we've experienced were the result of additional steps implemented for privacy protection, public notification and solicitation of public comment," Hatfield said, adding that the agency plans to go ahead with Secure Flight.

Key lawmakers said the TSA has a lot more work to do, but indicated they expect the program to go forward.

"A significant amount of work needs to be done before all aviation passengers are checked against terrorist watch lists," said Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the program's funding.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Congress made it clear that Secure Flight can't go beyond the testing phase until all the bugs are worked out.

Secure Flight would allow the TSA to take over the responsibility of checking passengers' names against those on terrorist watch lists. The TSA wants to begin Secure Flight with two airlines in August.

The program is supposed to work by transferring airline passengers' name records — which can include address, phone number and credit-card information — to a government database. The government computer would flag names on the watch list and identify passengers who would go through additional screening.

The TSA recently finished testing Secure Flight using records of passengers who flew on domestic airlines in June, information the agency had ordered the airlines to turn over.

Privacy advocates complain that the government doesn't provide an avenue for people who incorrectly are included on lists or confused with terrorists who have the same names. Secure Flight doesn't address those concerns, the GAO concluded.

Secure Flight is the successor to another computerized passenger screening project, called CAPPS II, which the government began developing after the terrorist attacks. CAPPS II was scuttled in August, partly because of concerns that personal information about passengers wouldn't be protected.