The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently said it is reaching out to non-government entities to potentially pre-screen air travelers for inclusion in the agency’s trusted traveler program that is currently open to select frequent fliers and certain airlines at 35 airports around the country.
Through a Request for Information (RFI) issued, TSA wants to know how third-parties can improve aviation security by pre-screening individuals who voluntarily provide information about themselves so that risk assessments can be conducted to determine if any of these people can be deemed known travelers for inclusion in the PreCheck program.
PreCheck participants are allowed to transit through a separate lane at aviation security checkpoints without having to remove their shoes, light coats and belts from their persons, or their laptop computers and 3-1-1 compliant liquids from carry-on bags. TSA still randomly selects PreCheck participants to go through the normal security lanes where they don’t receive expedited screening benefits.
Despite passengers making some five million trips through PreCheck lanes last year, the agency has been criticized because the expedited security lanes are frequently underutilized. To help address this, TSA last year began pilot projects at two airports that rely on behavior detection officers and bomb-sniffing dogs to offer some passengers destined for the normal security lanes to instead pass through the PreCheck lane and obtain the expedited screening benefits.
TSA also allows participants in Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry program, a trusted traveler initiative for United States citizens flying internationally to certain U.S. airports, to apply for inclusion in PreCheck.
Still, TSA is looking for ways to further expand participation in PreCheck beyond select frequent fliers. The third-party pre-screening program appears to be one such initiative.
“Travelers determined to present a low risk to the aviation transportation system are termed ‘known’ travelers in this context of this initiative,” the RFI says. “They will be afforded the benefit of expedited screening lanes” through the PreCheck program.
TSA says that any risk assessments done by third parties must be communicated to the agency’s passenger name record data base known as Secure Flight, which the agency uses to vet air travelers for possible links to terrorist groups before boarding flights.
Responses that TSA judges to be acceptable will be invited to a second phase of the program for a test and evaluation process of prototypes. Successful Phase two participants will be invited to do live prototyping at an airport in a third phase later this year.