The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is planning to expand facial recognition technology to more than 400 U.S. airports and also is partnering with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that the new scanners are working properly, Nextgov/FCW reported Monday.
According to a TSA official, the agency is "in the beginning stages of integrating automated facial recognition capability as an enhancement to the Credential Authentication Technology devices that had been deployed several years ago."
The most current Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) scanners reportedly use facial recognition technology by taking photos of travelers and then comparing the images to those on their photo IDs. TSA debuted the CAT-2 units in 2020 and began installing them at airports in 2022.
Last year, "457 CAT-2 upgrade kits utilizing the facial recognition technology" were added, according to a TSA press release this month.
"The CAT-2 units are currently deployed at nearly 30 airports nationwide, and will expand to more than 400 federalized airports over the coming years," the TSA official told Nextgov/FCW, adding that it is currently optional to participate.
Travelers who choose not to take part in facial recognition screenings have the option of notifying a TSA agent and going through a standard ID verification process.
The official said that TSA has placed "visible signs at all airports that have CAT devices with automated facial recognition technology" and has also "updated all CAT device screens with clear language that notifies travelers they may decline having their photo taken."
The CAT-2 scanners reportedly use a one-to-one verification process, where real-time photos are compared against government-issued photo ID, such as a passport or a driver's license, and then deleted from the unit.
According to Nextgov/FCW, the one-to-one process is considered to be less invasive, in terms of privacy, than one-to-many matching, where the new photo is compared to a larger sample of known individuals' images.
Photos taken for use with facial recognition technology "are not stored or saved after a positive ID match has been made, except in a limited testing environment for evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology," the agency said in a fact sheet.