The Transportation Security Administration will purchase and pilot new technologies designed to provide a greater ability to identify altered or fraudulent passenger identification credentials and boarding passes in order to further enhance travel safety.
TSA plans to test the technology at select airports in early 2012. The system will verify a passenger’s ID document and boarding pass at the same time.
The new system may be a result of fake IDs from China flooding in to the U.S. The fake driver licenses can only be spotted through a forensic analysis of the credential or by checking the document with the issuing agency.
TSA’s new system, known as Credential Authentication Technology – Boarding Pass Scanning Systems (CAT-BPSS), will eventually replace the current procedure used by security officers to verify fraudulent or altered documents. The system will be incorporated into TSA’s risk-based pilot that is slated to begin at four airports in the near future. This aligns with TSA’s latest efforts to enhance the passenger screening experience by moving toward a more risk-based, intelligence-driven counterterrorism agency.
The approximately $3.2 million award includes the purchase of 30 systems from three different vendors. TSA began testing travel document authentication technology in July 2011. TSA continually tests the latest technologies available in an effort to stay ahead of evolving threats and improve the passenger screening experience. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
