Registered Traveler is a public and private partnership between the TSA and the Registered Traveler Interoperability Consortium[1] (RTIC), providing rules and standards for private enrollment providers that sign up participants. The largest registered traveler program is called Clear and is operated by Clear Secure, Inc. The Clear Access Clearance Service is currently operating at 60 airports, airports, stadiums, and other venues nationwide as of January 2020.
Overview
The program seeks to identify passengers who pose a minimal security risk and then provide those passengers with an enhanced security checkpoint experience. Passengers will voluntarily pay a fee and submit to a background check to become registered travelers. Passengers who pass the background check will be issued a smartcard credential for use at the security checkpoints of airports that participate in the program. Registered travelers will have access to a reserved security lane and will enjoy a shorter wait at the security checkpoint. Other benefits, such as allowing registered travelers to keep their coats and shoes on and their laptops in their bags have also been discussed. Any U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident over the age of 18 can apply for membership, as can minors over the age of 12 with parental or guardian sponsorship.
In order to prevent a terrorist with a clean background from compromising the system, the TSA requires that registered travelers undergo the normal TSA screening (baggage x-ray and personal metal detector) at the RT kiosk checkpoint. Additionally, registered Travelers are not exempt from random secondary screening and may not bring prohibited items into secure areas of terminals.
Airports
These airports operated the Clear Registered Traveler program until June 2009, and currently other Registered Traveler programs:
The Registered Traveler programs are interoperable; someone who is registered with one RT program can participate in programs operated by other providers.
Clear, operated by Verified Identity Pass,[5] was the largest registered traveler program participant, with almost 200,000 members. Clear was founded by Steven Brill, the founder of Court TV. Clear had programs at Albany, Cincinnati, Denver, Dulles Washington D.C., Indianapolis, Little Rock, New York LaGuardia, New York JFK, Newark, Oakland, Orlando, Reagan Washington D.C., Salt Lake City, San Jose, San Francisco, and Westchester Airports.
On July 26, 2008, a laptop containing the names, addresses, birth dates, driver's license numbers, and passport information of 33,000 Clear customers was reported stolen from a secured room in San Francisco International Airport. The information was on an unencrypted laptop, in contravention of TSA rules, although it was protected by two levels of password protection.[6]
As a result of the theft, TSA officials ordered Clear to inform affected customers, suspend enrollment of new customers, and cease the use of unencrypted computers as well as secure devices until encryption can be installed, as required by TSA rules. Verified Identity Pass must submit an independent audit of its systems to the TSA before the company can register new customers.[6]
On August 4, 2008, TSA Suspends Verified Identity Pass, Inc. Clear Registered Traveler Enrollment
On August 5, 2008, the laptop was found in the same room where it went missing. Officials are currently investigating whether any personal data was accessed as well as the circumstances of the reappearance.[6]
On June 22, 2009, Clear announced they would cease operations effective immediately, citing the inability of Verified Identity Pass, Inc. to obtain the necessary financing. The entire contents of Clear's Web site were removed, and most pages were redirected to this simple statement:
Clear Lanes Are No Longer Available.
At 11:00 p.m. PST on June 22, 2009, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.
On July 6, 2009, two law firms filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of customers of Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc., that suddenly shut down on June 22.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Verified Identity Pass Inc. by Schneider Wallace Cottrell Brayton Konecky LLP and Kaplan Fox. The suit claims that by ceasing operations and not offering refunds, VIP committed conversion, fraud, breach of contract, negligence, and unjust enrichment. Additional lawsuits since have focused on demanding the return or destruction of personal information, social security numbers, credit card numbers, fingerprints, and iris scans in addition to refunding membership fees.
On April 16, 2010, Judge Stuart M. Bernstein of the U.S Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan granted approval to Alclear LLC to purchase the CLEAR assets after outbidding rival Henry Inc.[7]
On May 3, 2010, Verified Identity Pass was purchased by Alclear LLC. Alclear LLC has brought Clear back and honored the time left on all of Clear's original customers whose membership may have been terminated before the end of their contracts. In November 2010, Clear re-opened in Denver and Orlando airports.[8]
As of February2018[update], Clear is operational in nineteen cities.[9]
iQueue
FLO Corporation has partnered with Cogent and iQueue to deliver RT solutions and services. They expected to bring back the Registered Traveler program in the "Fall of 2010," starting with Indianapolis International Airport, with further expansions planned after.[10] The website still exists (flyiqueue.com), but the registered traveler enrollment is not as yet operational.
FLO
The FLO Corporation, in conjunction with FLO Alliance partners, provides biometric identification technologies and credentialing processes for use in airports in accordance with the Registered Traveler program. Final enrollment centers are located in the Washington, D.C. area, or by on-location appointment for corporate accounts.
RtGo
RtGo was operated by Unisys Corporation (it had been bought out by FLO and was being operated by IRAM Associates). Membership was $100 per year, with the option to prepay for up to 5 years. Shortly after the buyout, the company went out of business and was shut down in July 2009.
Preferred Traveler
The Preferred Traveler program is run by Vigilant Solutions, a Jacksonville Beach-based company. The company’s program differentiates itself by adding a suite of value-added services for the traveler.
Identifying information
Passengers who participate in this system must first provide personal biographical information including name, address, phone number, citizenship status, and previous addresses, along with other information. The biographical information will be collected by a commercial Registered Traveler service provider. The biographical portion of the enrollment may be accomplished via a secure website. Next, the applicant will proceed to the biometric phase of the enrollment process. During biometric enrollment applicants will present identification documents and fingerprints. Applicants may also choose to have an image of their iris taken if they wish to use an iris image as an alternative to a fingerprint scan at the security checkpoint. The iris image is non-invasive to the eye. Once the biometric enrollment is complete, the service provider submits the collected data to the TSA which performs a Security Threat Assessment (STA) of the applicant. If the assessment does not indicate that the applicant is suspected of posing a risk to aviation security, the TSA will return an approved STA result to the service provider. The service provider will then provide the passenger with a Registered Traveler card. The card will be a smartcard, containing biometric information to prevent the card from being used by unauthorized persons. This card will then be inserted into a verification kiosk at the special checkpoints, which will verify the passenger's biometrics (fingerprint or iris scan) and acknowledge membership and clearance to proceed to RT screening.
Controversy
Privacy
This system, like the related Secure Flight, has come under fire for its privacy implications although less so because Registered Traveler unlike Secure Flight is voluntary. The potential effectiveness has also been questioned. On the privacy front Registered Traveler collects far more information than Secure Flight including biometrics. While supporters assert that this program is voluntary, critics assert that RT's extensive background checks will be misused. The privacy safeguards and rules can be found in the RTIC specification and the TSA RT Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA).[11] Many airports and airlines already offer access to shorter "priority" security lines to first-class or other status travelers without requiring any background checks.[12]
Effectiveness
Similar to the concerns raised about CAPPS and CAPPS II, critics point out that any program designed to exclude certain passengers from scrutiny will provide a backdoor for potential terrorists, since they would likely seek Registered Traveler status. This criticism draws on the 9/11 Commission's finding that nine of the 19 hijackers involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks were flagged by the CAPPS I system but were not intercepted, because security was focused on luggage bombs. However, those participating in the Registered Traveler Program currently pass through the same security checkpoints and are screened the same as any other individual, the main difference being RT members enjoy a much shorter wait before screening. Currently, RT programs do not offer a reduced security check, but their announced plans indicate they intend to offer this if airport officials allow it.
Fairness
Because the Registered Travelers Program, in its current form, does not exempt members from any of the security checks of the TSA, it is often criticized as merely being a method by which frequent travelers can pay an annual fee to a private company in order to be permitted to move to the head of the TSA line and not wait their turn along with less frequent travelers.[13] Since the TSA lines are a government program (funded by equal payments on tickets of frequent travelers and non-travelers), this strikes many as being unfair to less frequent travelers.[14]
After the September 11 attacks, there was an immediate call to action regarding the state of aviation security measures as the hijackers involved in 9/11 were able to successfully pass through security and take command of the plane. The existing security measures flagged more than half of the 19 hijackers in 9/11; however, they were cleared to board the plane because their bags were not found to contain any explosives. In the months and years following September 11, 2001, security at many airports worldwide were reformed to deter similar terrorist plots.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within, and connecting to the United States. It was created as a response to the September 11 attacks to improve airport security procedures and consolidate air travel security under a combined federal law enforcement and regulatory agency.
Airport security includes the techniques and methods used in an attempt to protect passengers, staff, aircraft, and airport property from malicious harm, crime, terrorism, and other threats.
The Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) is a counter-terrorism system in place in the United States air travel industry that matches passenger information with other data sources. The United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) maintains a watchlist, pursuant to 49 USC § 114 (h)(2), of "individuals known to pose, or suspected of posing, a risk of air piracy or terrorism or a threat to airline or passenger safety." The list is used to pre-emptively identify terrorists attempting to buy airline tickets or board aircraft traveling in the United States, and to mitigate perceived threats.
The No Fly List, maintained by the United States federal government's Terrorist Screening Center (TSC), is one of several lists included in algorithmic rulesets used by government agencies and airlines to decide who to allow to board airline flights. The TSC's No Fly List is a list of people who are prohibited from boarding commercial aircraft for travel within, into, or out of the United States. This list has also been used to divert aircraft away from U.S. airspace that do not have start- or end-point destinations within the United States. The number of people on the list rises and falls according to threat and intelligence reporting. There were reportedly 16,000 names on the list in 2011, 21,000 in 2012, and 47,000 in 2013.
Security theater is the practice of implementing security measures that are considered to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to achieve it.
A boarding pass or boarding card is a document provided by an airline during airport check-in, giving a passenger permission to enter the restricted area of an airport and to board the airplane for a particular flight. At a minimum, it identifies the passenger, the flight number, the date, and scheduled time for departure. A boarding pass may also indicate details of the perks a passenger is entitled to and is thus presented at the entrance of such facilities to show eligibility.
INSPASS, or INS Passenger Accelerated Service System, was a program of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the 1990s and early 2000s the purpose of which was to facilitate the entry of pre-screened low-risk travellers through immigration and customs at certain airports.
Secure Flight is an airline passenger pre-screening program, implemented from August 2009 by the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Secure Flight matches passenger information against watch lists maintained by the federal government. The initial implementation phase of Secure Flight resulted in the complete transfer of responsibility for passenger watch list matching to TSA from aircraft operators whose flights operate within the United States. The second phase of Secure Flight will result in the transfer of responsibility for passenger watch list matching to TSA for flights into, out of, and over the United States.
NEXUS is a joint Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection-operated Trusted Traveler and expedited border control program designed for pre-approved, low-risk travelers. Members of the program can avoid waits at border entry points by using reserved lanes at land crossings into Canada and the United States, by using self-serve kiosks at airports in Canada, the US and some international locations, or by phoning border officials for a marine entry. A NEXUS membership card is a valid document under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), so it can be used in place of a passport, including by air if flying between the US and Canada. However, carrying a valid passport is still recommended, in the rare event that a flight is diverted to an airport without NEXUS support.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) is a law enforcement agency within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in Singapore.
The United States passport card is an optional national identity card and a travel document issued by the U.S. federal government in the size of a credit card. Like a U.S. passport book, the passport card is only issued to U.S. nationals exclusively by the U.S. Department of State, compliant to the standards for identity documents set by the REAL ID Act, and can be used as proof of U.S. citizenship and identity. The passport card allows its holders to travel by domestic air flights within the U.S., and to travel by land and sea within North America. However, the passport card cannot be used for international air travel.
Global Entry is a program of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to receive expedited clearance upon arrival into the United States through automatic kiosks at select airports and via the SENTRI and NEXUS lanes by land and sea. As of May 4, 2018, Global Entry was available at 53 U.S. airports and 15 preclearance locations. By April 2018 more than five million people were enrolled in Global Entry and approximately 50,000 new applications for the program were being filed each month.
In the United States, border security includes the protection of ports, airports, and the country's 3,017-mile (4,855 km) land border with Canada and 1,933-mile (3,111 km) border with Mexico. The U.S. concept of border security is deeply entwined with the persistent actual or perceived threat of terrorism, as well as more universal concerns such as immigration control, smuggling, and human trafficking. As such, the U.S. federal government is constantly reevaluating and adjusting its border security policies to reflect the perceived threats posed to the United States.
IDEMIA is a multinational technology company headquartered in Courbevoie, France. It provides identity-related security services, and sells facial recognition and other biometric identification products and software to private companies and governments.
On November 1, 2013, a terrorist attack occurred at around 9:20 a.m. PDT in Terminal 3 of the Los Angeles International Airport. 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia opened fire with a rifle, killing a Transportation Security Administration officer and injuring several other people.
The Gerardo Hernandez Airport Security Act of 2014 is a bill that would direct the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to undertake a variety of activities aimed at enhancing security at airports where the TSA performs or oversees security-related activities. The bill would require the TSA to verify that all such airports have appropriate response plans, to share best practices with each airport, as well as to report to Congress on the capacity of law enforcement, fire and medical response teams to communicate and respond to security threats at airports.
Clear Secure, Inc. is an American technology company that operates biometric travel document verification systems at some major airports and stadiums.
Automated border control systems (ABC) or eGates are automated self-service barriers which use data stored in a chip in biometric passports along with a photo or fingerprint taken at the time of entering the eGates to verify the passport holder's identity. Travellers undergo biometric verification using facial or iris recognition, fingerprints, or a combination of modalities. After the identification process is complete and the passport holder's identity is verified, a physical barrier such as a gate or turnstile opens to permit passage. If the passport holder's identification is not verified or if the system malfunctions, then the gate or turnstile does not open and an immigration officer will meet the person. E-gates came about in the early 2000s as an automated method of reading the then-newly ICAO mandated e-passports.
Airport privacy involves the right of personal privacy for passengers when it comes to screening procedures, surveillance, and personal data being stored at airports. This practice intertwines airport security measures and privacy specifically the advancement of security measures following the 9/11 attacks in the United States and other global terrorist attacks. Several terrorist attacks, such as 9/11, have led airports all over the world to look to the advancement of new technology such as body and baggage screening, detection dogs, facial recognition, and the use of biometrics in electronic passports. Amidst the introduction of new technology and security measures in airports and the growing rates of travelers there has been a rise of risk and concern in privacy.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
