TSA Tests Facial Recognition, Body Scanning Solutions in LA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now piloting two new security screening technologies at the Los Angeles International Airport and the Tom Bradley International Terminal, one of which revolves around biometric identification.

As with the handful of pilots being conducted by the US Customs and Border Protection agency, the TSA’s system is based on facial recognition. Passengers who opt in scan their boarding pass and passport at automated kiosks, which then match the names on each document. The kiosks also use cameras to take pictures of the travelers, and use face biometrics to match those images to their passports. It offers a means of expediting the passenger screening process, while any travelers whose names or faces don’t match their documents will be processed by TSA officers as usual.

The solution has been deployed alongside an Advanced Imaging Technology unit, a new kind of body scanner that doesn’t require travelers to raise their hands above their heads during the scanning process.

News of the deployments comes just a few weeks after the TSA’s announcement that it had named Dallas Fort Worth International Airport a new testing site for innovative airport security solutions, suggesting that these technologies may soon find their way to that airport. In a statement announcing its Los Angeles airport pilot projects, the TSA said its “long-term goal is to incorporate enhanced capabilities at checkpoint lanes throughout the country.”

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February 20, 2018 – by Alex Perala