Seeking to leverage biometric technology to better verify the identities of low risk passengers and increase efficiencies, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the next year plans to roll out a pilot project that uses fingerprint technology instead of a travel document checker at airport checkpoints, agency officials say.
The pilot project is planned for use at PreCheck trusted traveler security lanes, Deborah Kent, director and executive Liaison Officer for TSA to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), says at the Oct. 20 Department of Homeland Security Strategic Industry Conversation. Travelers that participate in PreCheck are considered low risk because they have voluntarily submitted personal information, including fingerprints, to TSA to be vetted for inclusion in the program.
The benefit to travelers that participate in PreCheck is that they typically don’t have to remove their shoes, laptop computers, 3-1-1 liquid compliant bag, belts and light outerwear before going through the screening process.
Kent says that the Biometric Authentication Tool (BAT) pilot is still on the “drawing board” but is part of the vision for the use of eGate technology before entering the aviation security checkpoint where a TSA Travel Document Checker currently is situated.
“The vision behind BAT is that it would be a networked eGate solution, which would contain integrated contact and contactless fingerprint readers,” Kent says. “BAT would receive real-time secure flight data as well as fingerprints from the TSA PreCheck population and use the information upon validation to facilitate passenger flow through the eGate to the next layer in checkpoint security.”
In addition to improving operational efficiency, use of the biometrics to verify passenger identities would strengthen security by lessening reliance on credentials and boarding passes to verify identities during the screening process, Kent says.
Mike Turner, deputy director of the Program Management Division within TSA’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, tells attendees that the BAT pilot would take place within the next year at two airports. He says the pilot would initially begin with the PreCheck lanes to better understand the various impacts of incorporating a biometric check into the security process before potentially expanding it.
Keith Goll, the senior technical adviser within TSA’s Office of Security Capabilities, says that through the agency’s new Innovation Task Force (ITF), it is looking for ideas to improve security and the traveler’s experience in going from the curb to gate. He says that TSA is open to ideas on how biometrics can be used in this journey.
Goll notes that Huban Gowadia, TSA’s deputy administrator, said over the summer that she would like within five years for a traveler’s face to be the boarding pass. That does have privacy implications and other things that will have to be worked on to make it happen, he says.
“We’re starting to think about that now,” Goll says.
James Gilkerson, program manager for the ITF Integrated Solutions and Process Innovation Team, says the ITF effort is part of the “recognition that aviation security needs a holistic approach to address the threat landscape and to improve the passenger experience,” and to do so by delivering next-generation capabilities. The approach is primarily focused on four key areas, he says, including security effectiveness, operational security, workforce management, passenger efficiency.
The ITF process is in the pre-acquisition phase and isn’t about meeting specific requirements but rather about demonstrating solutions, Gilkerson says. Jose Bonilla, director of the ITF, says at an Airports Council International-North America conference, that the purpose of the ITF is to field emerging capabilities “and see what these things can do…to improve our systems architecture.”
Armed LEO Biometric Pilot
Kent says that TSA has a separate biometric effort also underway that is aimed at armed law enforcement officers (LEOs). The Armed LEO pilot would take advantage of the personal identity verification (PIV) card that each officer carries, she said.
The PIV cards include biographic and biometric information. At the gate the officer would supply their PIN to “unlock” the information on their card and using a biometric validate that information against a TSA-maintained database, Kent says.
This would facilitate the flow of the armed LEOs through the checkpoint, Kent says.
TSA is planning to develop a strategic framework for the agency’s future adoption of biometrics that aligns with a framework that the DHS has developed for biometrics across the department, Kent says. The agency’s framework would also align some of the specific capability gaps around our mission space
TSA’s OSC office has the lead in developing the framework, which has a five to 10-year planning horizon, Kent says.