As much as travelers value cheap travel, including cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages, most passengers would agree that anything that can be done to expedite the security checkpoint procedures would enhance travel. To that end, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has commenced a new pilot program at Washington Dulles International Airport that uses machines to check IDs and boarding passes vs. having agents examine them with black lights and magnifying glasses.
TSA is touting this technology as another step in its plan to move toward a system that focuses on passengers based on their perceived risks. Critics of the agency have complained that TSA officials spend too much of their efforts on enforcing regulations on prohibited items and too little on analyzing and managing risk.
Kip Hawley, a former head of TSA, has called for the elimination of the ban on prohibited items, except for obvious weapons, and for allowing passengers to carry any quantity of liquids in their carry-on bags.
Hawley contends that by attempting to eliminate all risk from flying, the TSA has made air travel an unending nightmare for U.S. passengers and visitors from overseas, while at the same time creating a security system that is brittle where it needs to be supple.
Referred to as Credential Authentication Technology Boarding Pass Scanning Systems, it will scan a passengers boarding pass and photo ID and then automatically verify that the names provided on both documents match and authenticate the boarding pass. This technology will be able to analyze and compare security features embedded in photo IDs and determine if they have been altered or are fraudulent.
Any discrepancies will prompt security personnel to ask additional questions. TSA is planning on expanding its test program to Houston and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Security experts view this technology as a step towards more efficient and increasingly risk based airport security approach. Using machines to authenticate documents minimizes the room for error. By taking the human element out of checking IDs, agents can focus on the things that look out of the ordinary when people go through security checkpoints.
An additional anticipated benefit of the new procedure is that it is expected to mitigate some disgruntled passenger feelings since there will be no appearance that TSA officials are making subjective decisions regarding who warrants additional screening.
This is being viewed as the first significant step toward dramatically reducing the staffing at checkpoints. Just as scanners at retail stores have reduced the need for cashiers, automating document authentication could result in a reduction in TSA staffing.
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