Air travel has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with almost 2.5 million passengers screened at airport security checkpoints on average each day in October, as reported by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Though the airport screening technologies used by the TSA have evolved over the past 20 years, one highly visible objective has remained the same: focusing on stopping prohibited items from entering the sterile (secure) side of airports. Even passengers enrolled in TSA PreCheck require some physical screening at airports, classified as expedited screening.
The one area that has undergone significant changes in recent years is identity verification.
Keeping the air system secure for all travelers demands that the TSA verify you are the person you claim to be and that you are eligible to fly. TSA uses a program called Secure Flight, which includes a no-fly list that each passenger is checked against to ensure that bad actors do not enter the sterile side of airports and gain entry into the air system.
The TSA introduced Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) to achieve this in near-real time. With the form of identification (ID) that you present at an airport security checkpoint, CAT confirms that the ID is authentic, that it matches the person presenting it, and that you are eligible to fly that day.
The TSA has upgraded CAT (labelled CAT-2 to include biometric facial recognition, which effectively becomes your form of identification. This is the future for airport security, as biometric technology and artificial intelligence become more ubiquitous in airport security checkpoint operations.
With such a direction, there is a battle going on between different vendors to determine who will gain the trust of the TSA to support identification verification.
CLEAR uses biometrics (fingerprints and iris scans) to validate a person’s identity. They charge customers as much as $189 annually for membership, which allows such passengers to move ahead of those waiting for the TSA to manually check their ID. CLEAR customers must still undergo physical screening, either in PreCheck lanes or standard lanes.
CLEAR recently found themselves in the TSA doghouse, when a passenger was found to misrepresent their identity and then attempted to bring ammunition through an airport security checkpoint. This prompted the TSA to randomly select CLEAR customers for additional identity validation, which devalues the benefits offered by CLEAR.
The TSA contracts with IDEMIA to enroll people in PreCheck, which involves identity authentication and fingerprinting. Given that PreCheck status makes passengers eligible for expedited screening through PreCheck security lanes, verifying people for this program is a critical component to harden the air system.
CLEAR and Telos are both approved to enroll people in PreCheck.
The credential authentication landscape continues to evolve, with identity validation a critical component to secure the air system. The introduction of CAT and CAT-2 (with facial recognition) raises the security bar sufficiently high that vendors like CLEAR, Telos and IDEMIA have little room for error if they hope to grab a piece of this market and gain the trust of the TSA.
Given that PreCheck enrollment involves a background check and fingerprinting, it would be appropriate to add facial recognition to this vetting process. This would narrow the gap between known passengers (those enrolled in PreCheck) and unknown passengers (all other travelers).
Given that the TSA needs more people eligible for expedited screening, can facial recognition serve as a surrogate for the background check used to enroll people in PreCheck?
If it can, the airport security landscape would shift significantly. This would be akin to offering PreCheck status at no cost to more travelers.
But there is no free lunch with such a security shift.
Photos would need to be stored for more than a few seconds, and a secure database on travelers would need to be maintained. Gaining the trust of travelers and elected officials will also be critical. A group of senators want facial recognition by the TSA to be stopped at airports. These senators are misguided in their opinion and lack a comprehensive understanding of what facial recognition can offer the nation in securing the air system.
David Pekoske, the TSA administrator, has gone on record stating that, eventually, biometric will not be optional. He should be applauded for looking the future in the eye and staring it down with confidence and conviction.
Though such a future is infeasible today, it presents a new model for airport security. Companies like CLEAR, Telos and IDEMIA will be needed to be part of this model. Their current efforts are a de facto dress rehearsal for this future. If they prove to be reliable partners, they can also help accelerate its adoption. If they cannot attain a high bar for reliability and trustworthiness, their future as partners will be in doubt.
What is certain is that credential authentication technology is the driver that will transform airport security, and that biometrics like facial recognition are critical to effect this transformation. Stopping such technology would not only be a mistake, it would hinder the TSA from fulfilling its role in protecting the nation’s air system.
Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He applies his expertise in data-driven risk-based decision-making to evaluate and inform public policy. He has studied aviation security for over 25 years, providing the technical foundations for risk-based security that informed the design of TSA PreCheck.