Accuracy rates for successfully matching international travelers departing the U.S. by air using facial recognition technology are exceeding requirements set by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as part of its biometric air exit program, but the agency could do a better job letting travelers that are exempt from participating know their options, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
An independent operational test done within CBP over two months in 2019 found that the system CBP is using to automatically match travelers at international departure gates at airports from a live photo captured on site and comparing against photos stored in a special database is accurate 98 percent of the time, well above the 90 percent requirement, GAO says. That figure is in line with what agency officials have been touting in various public forums the past two years.
However, CBP is not meeting its goal to successfully capture biometrics on 97 percent of in-scope travelers departing the U.S. on participating international flights for several reasons, coming in at 80 percent, the report says.
Camera outages and malfunctions, airline agents’ excluding some passengers such as those in wheelchairs and families, and lighting issues that don’t allow sufficient quality photo capture and comparison against the Traveler Verification Service (TVS) biometric database, are cited by GAO for reasons CBP isn’t meeting its goal of successfully capturing facial photos on at least 97 percent of international travelers.
While the Department of Homeland Security has been mandated by Congress to use biometrics to help verify that foreign nationals are departing the U.S. in accordance with their visa terms, CBP has partnered with airlines and airports to implement the biometric air exit program. The agency supplies the TVS capability but wants its aviation stakeholders to purchase and install the camera equipment at departure gates and connects to the database.
Participation by the airports and airlines is voluntary and “CBP does not intend to require airlines to capture photos of all in-scope travelers (as of May 2020), [and] it does not have a plan to ensure that air exit can meet the 97 percent photo capture requirement defined in the Operational Requirements Document,” GAO says.
CBP told GAO that it expects the photo capture rate to improve over time as gate agents and travelers become more experienced with the biometric air exit system.
Regarding privacy issues, GAO says has incorporated a large number of privacy protections into the biometric air exit program such as publishing related privacy impact assessments, having a website with frequently asked questions, providing on-site signage, encryption of photos transmitted to the TVS, prohibiting commercial partners from storing and using traveler’s photos for business uses, and deleting photos of U.S. citizens from the TVS within 12 hours.
U.S. citizens and certain foreign nationals are exempt from the biometric air exit program and may opt out when approaching a boarding gate, but GAO says options are not always clear or obvious. Shortcomings related to privacy issues include signage that is obscured by other signs, misplaced signs, outdated information on signs, signage that is difficult to read, incomplete online information and with CBP’s call center, the report says.
“CBP officials also noted airlines often share gates, and airlines that are not participating in CBP’s Biometric Entry-Exit Program do not want to have CBP’s privacy signs posted during their boarding process and sometimes remove them,” the report says. “When this occurs, the airlines that are using facial recognition technology at the shared gate must remember to post the signs for the boarding process, which CBP officials said does not always happen. Officials added that some signs are taken down or moved by airline personnel or airport authorities without their knowledge.”
As of May 2020, CBP had deployed facial recognition technology to at least one departure gate or air carrier at 27 airports. The agency’s goal is to achieve full operational capability of the program by the end of fiscal year 2021 but this would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
DHS agreed with CBP’s recommendations to ensure privacy notices are complete and available at all locations where biometric air exit is being implemented, and to develop and implement plans to audit partners for compliance and for capturing required traveler photos.