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April 16, 2012 By News Staff
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is testing a new system that scans identification cards and boarding passes that could speed up the screening process at airports.
With the new system, passengers step up to the TSA desk in the security line and scan the bar code on their boarding pass. At the same time, a TSA employee takes a person’s ID and verifies it using a machine. If there is a problem with verification, the passenger can be further questioned.
The TSA hopes the technology will make the screening process easier and more accurate.
“For efficiency, it is fantastic,” said Domenic Bianchini, TSA’s director of checkpoint technology, in an interview with USA Today. “We think it’s a valuable technology, and we think over time we will see the real value added.”
TSA spokesman Greg Soule also told USA Today that a passenger’s personal information isn’t stored by the machine.
The system will be tested at a few different airports, before a larger rollout commences. Washington-Dulles International Airport started using the machine last week. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston will first use the technology on Tuesday, April 17, followed by San Juan, Puerto Rico, on April 23.
The first 30 machines — custom manufactured for the TSA by BAE Systems Information Solutions, Trans Digital Technologies and NCR Government Systems — cost approximately $3.2 million, according to Soule.
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Hello?! That is nearly $110,000 each! Are the clerks the TSA hires to do the job too stupid to read your name off your ID and compare it to your name on your boarding pass? Billions and Billions spent - for an agency who has never caught a terrorist and can't manage to consistently find weapons in the random airport testing which is taken care of. These spending sprees by TSA are even more egregious and criminal than the latest GSA scandal.
More of our tax dollars wasted on security theater so that politicians can continue to terrorize the populace into voting for them. There was a time when Americans were proud of their freedoms and mocked other countries that treated their populace like criminals. Now we are using body scans and biometric IDs just to get on a plane. Guilty until proven innocent and Constitutional rights don't apply.
Technology isn't the answer to this problem. If one thing doesn't work you don't solve the problem by purchasing another machine. It breaks down to people - well trained and motivated people who can make decisions tht are balanced. Training is key - old quote, "Hard training - easy war".
Hmmm... this still doesn't solve the basic problem of who I am. First, can the machine differentiate between all the different kinds of ID available? Second, what does this system do? (OK, that should probably be first) And then.... I book a flight under a fake name, print a fake boarding passing under my real name, check in using fake name to bypass no-fly list, go through security with real ID since the two systems are not connected, and I am not even a terrorist and I figured out that loop-hole. And since I already bypassed the system can you instead give me the $110,000 instead of giving it to a company that isn't really doing anything other repacking what is basically a grocery-store bar code scanner system?
It seems like this removes the essential (if slightly time-consuming) element of the TSA agent having direct interaction with the passenger, and the opportunity for small-talk that provides a way for a well-trained person to assess whether the other person is relaxed or tense, nervous, etc., plus looking at the person's face to compare with the photo on the ID. I am NOT a trained officer but know enough to know that these informal interactions can be critical in spotting people who are behaving unusually or suspiciously. Needless expense and bad security move.
The USA... The greatest nation in the world, but we sure don't do a lot of things very well, do we?