But the Court TV founder's newest effort, Clear - short for Clear Register Traveler - lies well outside of his personal norm.

Brill was at Salt Lake City International Airport on Thursday for the debut of Clear, a service now in 18 U.S. airports that allows those who pay for a $28 background check and a $100 annual fee to breeze through an expedited security line.

In the Salt Lake City airport, Brill's service is located in Delta Air Line's Terminal 2, with a second lane set to debut within weeks in Terminal 1.

The idea for Clear struck Brill while writing his book After: How America Confronted the September 12th Era. While researching airline security, Brill came up with the idea for what he calls the "voluntary credential industry" - a system in which passengers may elect to provide more background information in exchange for consistently quicker trips through airport security checkpoints.

"Equality is great, but when it comes to making security decisions, you don't always want it," he said. "And doesn't it make more sense to spend more time checking out strangers?"

But Brill, then a columnist for Newsweek, didn't immediately see business potential in the concept. It wasn't until he authored an article on airport problems that he saw what would become Clear's statement of purpose.

"I gave that article to my editor on a Friday and asked him to pull it that afternoon," he said. "I told him that I'd realized it was a conflict of interest, that I might just start that business myself."

Less than three years later, he did.

Despite his newness to the security industry, Brill was an expert on start-up businesses. He founded The American Lawyer magazine in 1987 and Court TV in 1991, both of which he later sold. He also founded Brill's Content, a now-defunct magazine focused on critiquing the journalistic world, in 1998.

Though the publication imploded after only a few years, the fascination he found in courtroom drama proved marketable.

"He had a real crystal ball in seeing the growth of the legal market," said The American Lawyer Executive Editor, Robin Sparkman. "He envisioned it growing and taking off long before it did."

Although he had vowed to his family that he would never start a business again, Brill attempted to open up yet another new market, this time based on security. He opened Clear's first security lane in Orlando in 2005.

"Brill is much more of an entrepreneur than a journalist," said Judy Muller, an associate professor of journalism at the University of California's Annenberg School of Communications. "He researched this idea extensively and saw a business opportunity."

Security expert and founder of California-based BT Counterpane Internet Security Bruce Schneier, though, has deep concerns about the safety of the card itself.

"With the background checks, this is a service to the terrorists," he said. "This lets them know which ones we are on to."

Brill, though, insists that his customers go through equally strict security procedures.

"You can't argue that it's less safe; we make no compromises there," he said. "The odds are not perfect. But the odds are never perfect."

ccrockett@sltrib.com