The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expecting the highest passenger volumes the agency has seen at airport security checkpoints nationwide during this summer’s travel season.
New credential authentication technology (CAT) units are helping to improve the passenger experience and increase security at checkpoints during this busy period and beyond. The units that confirm the validity of a traveler’s identification and their flight information in real time have recently been installed at two new airports, Long Island MacArthur Airport and Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
The new CAT units at both airports are referred to as CAT-2 and are equipped with a camera that captures a real-time photo of the traveler. CAT-2 compares the traveler’s photo on the ID against the in-person, real-time photo. Once the CAT-2 confirms the match, a TSA officer verifies and the traveler can proceed through the checkpoint, without the need to exchange a boarding pass. The photo is then deleted.
“This latest technology helps ensure that we know who is boarding flights,” said Robert Duffy, TSA’s federal security director for Long Island MacArthur. “Credential authentication plays an important role in passenger identity verification. It improves a TSA officer’s ability to validate a traveler’s photo identification while also identifying any inconsistencies associated with fraudulent travel documents.”
CAT-2 units have what is referred to as a “library” of IDs programed into them that allow the technology to authenticate more than 2,500 different types of IDs including passports, military common access cards, Department of Homeland Security Trusted Traveler ID cards, uniformed services ID cards, permanent resident cards, US visas and driver’s licenses and photo IDs issued by state motor vehicle departments.
In related news, the Connecticut Airport Authority recently announced a change in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoints at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Click here to read the full story.
