DTS: How it works

Although it will have a .mil Internet address, DTS is owned by TRW Inc.,which would charge the government about $5 each time a traveler books a DOD personnel the system. DTS would eventually be used by 3.2 million DOD personnel, with classified intelligence personnel continuing to use their own systems. Travel orders, reservations and trip payments are done electronically.

DTS uses DOD's Non-Classified IP Router Network to connect users with TRW, and travel data gets encrypted during each transaction with public-key infrastructure technology also used for security. Travelers charge their trips to installations or individually held Bank of America credit cards.

For airfares, DTS uses the General Services Administration's City Pairs program, which negotiates government discounts.

Each account gets reimbursed through electronic funds transfer within days of the trip's completion, after the traveler has filled in actual expense figures.