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TSA to begin testing ID-checking technology at LMM on Apr. 23

TSA will begin testing new technology at LMM airport starting next Monday. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)

The Transportation Security Administration announced over the weekend that it will begin testing new technologies designed to enhance its ability to identify altered or fraudulent passenger identification documents and boarding passes at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, starting Apr. 23.

LMM will join Washington Dulles International Airport and Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where the new system is being tested.

In October 2011, TSA awarded contracts to BAE Systems Information Solutions Inc., Trans-Digital Technologies, LLC, and NCR Government Systems, LLC to provide pilot testing of fraudulent document detection technology to a limited number of airports.

Each airport will receive a total of six detection units TSA will phase in more airports after garnering results from the pilot program, the agency said..

“The piloting of this technology is another milestone in TSA’s ongoing risk-based security initiative,” said TSA Administrator John S. Pistole. “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.”

The system, known as Credential Authentication Technology – Boarding Pass Scanning Systems, or CAT-BPSS, will scan a passenger’s boarding pass and photo ID, and then automatically verify the names provided on both documents match and authenticate the boarding pass.

The technology also identifies altered or fraudulent photo IDs by analyzing and comparing security features embedded in the IDs. This system supports TSA’s efforts to enhance the passenger screening by moving toward a more risk-based, intelligence-driven counterterrorism approach.

As reported by the USA Today, “passengers step up to the TSA desk and scan the bar codes of their boarding passes, like a can of soup at the self-checkout at a grocery store. The TSA officer scans the identification, which the machine authenticates and compares with the boarding pass.”

TSA’s risk-based security measures focus our resources on those passengers that we know the least about. TSA began testing CAT-BPSS at the TSA Systems Integration Facility in 2011 and continue to test the latest technologies available — expanding efforts to address evolving threats and improve the passenger screening experience.

TSA will conduct its review of the system for several months, to see, among other things, how quickly passengers go through the lines and the accuracy of the equipment.

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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