A group of senators has put forward a bill, the Traveler Privacy Protection Act, that, if enacted into law, will stop the use and advancement of biometrics like facial recognition by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at airport security checkpoints. This bill is a threat to our national security, having the unintended consequence of empowering bad actors with malicious intents to infiltrate and disrupt the nation’s air system, increasing the risk to all Americans who travel by air.
In an ideal world, where the TSA has an unlimited budget to protect the nation’s air system and travelers have unlimited time to be screened at airports, technological advances that use biometrics like facial recognition would be superfluous. Yet that is not the world in which the TSA operates.
They are constrained with limited resources, working to meet the travel needs of the flying public as effectively and efficiently as possible. No one wants to wait 30 minutes to gain access to the sterile (secure) side of airports and into the air system. Yet to keep people safe requires a complex system of layers that balance security, efficiency and expense.
The TSA is committed to a risk-based security strategy. Since the launch of PreCheck in 2011, airport security has become more efficient and effective. But resting on one’s laurels is not the solution; the nation is fast approaching the time when 3 million passengers will need to be screened at the 400+ federalized airports each day, not just around high-volume holidays. The TSA’s commitment to deliver a secure air system is unwavering, and part of their core mission.
Well-intentioned (albeit ill-qualified and ill-informed) people like the senators who are proposing the Traveler Privacy Protection Act are working to ratchet airport security backward, not forward.
Biometrics incorporate artificial intelligence (AI). Applications for AI are ubiquitous, with biometrics like facial recognition poised to transform airport security for many years to come. Putting the brakes on such advances is misguided at best — and, more realistically, dangerous.
People with malicious intent must keep their identity hidden. Their anonymity is their ticket to infiltrate the air system. Physical screening is useful, but it is not foolproof. That is why credential authentication, including identity, is a critical layer of airport security.
Biometrics like facial recognition is one of the most reliable ways to affirm that a person is who they claim to be. Relying on physical forms of identification is far weaker and less dependable than a person’s face. That is one reason why the US Customs and Border Protection uses facial recognition for those enrolled in Global Entry.
Cries of privacy being violated with facial recognition are simply overstated. The TSA has no nefarious intent with any such data. They are interested in fulfilling their mission and protecting the air system within the financial constraints imposed upon them by Congress and providing the most efficient service for all passengers.
To illustrate this point, when any of us tap into an internet connection at an airport, if we do not protect our information using a virtual private network (VPN), we are subjecting ourselves to eavesdroppers and people who can steal our information. For many people, information (including photos) shared on social media sites like Facebook are far more dangerous than a picture taken at an airport security checkpoint by the TSA that is kept for a very limited time for nearly every traveler.
In spite of inflammatory comments about personal privacy being violated, facial recognition has nothing to do with the government intruding on people’s personal privacy. It has to do with validating that the person presenting themselves to travel is indeed who they claim to be.
To move airport security facial recognition forward demands that it continue to be used, refined and developed. The Traveler Privacy Protection Act will hinder such technological advances, giving bad actors an edge that raises risks in the air system.
Some would argue that airport security has been fine for over 22 years. The TSA has successfully protected the air system by strategically investing in technologies and concepts to achieve their desired outcome.
Facial recognition is what they believe is the right investment at this time. I completely agree with their assessment, not only for airport security today, but for what it will need to be in the future. Halting facial recognition with the Traveler Privacy Protection Act will create a future that will be far riskier for every traveler, including all the people the six senators believe they are protecting with their bill.
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.
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