The US Transportation Security Administration is supplementing its use of naked scanners with boarding pass and photo ID scanning technology.
If you are departing from Washington Dulles Airport, you may have to break out your boarding pass and photo ID as the TSA tests Credential Authentication Technology - Boarding Pass Scanning Systems from three vendors.
The CAT-BPSS scans passengers' boarding passes and photo IDs, verifies that the names match and then ensures that the boarding passes are legitimate, the TSA says.
Then, in a feature that might be the envy of your local bar or pub, the CAT-BPSS analyzes security features embedded in the IDs and flags altered or otherwise fraudulent IDs.
"The ability to efficiently and effectively identify fraudulent identity documents and authenticate boarding passes has the potential to not only improve security, but also the checkpoint experience for passengers," says John Pistole, TSA administrator.
The technology is being provided by BAE Systems Information Solutions, Trans-Digital Technologies and NCR Government Systems at Washington Dulles Airport and soon at Houston George Bush Airport and Luis Munoz Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Each airport gets six devices, two from each vendor.
The TSA earned a lot of criticism when it introduced advanced imaging technology to scan people's bodies at security checkpoints and they now produce generic images rather than precise images of people's physiques.
The pilot program introducing the CAT-BPSS systems is part of the TSA's effort to introduce new technologies "to address evolving threats," the agency says.
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