The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has started testing new technologies designed to enhance its ability to identify altered or fraudulent passenger identification documents and boarding passes at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). The technology will also be tested at Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU) in the coming weeks.

In October, 2011, the TSA awarded limited contracts to BAE Systems Information Solutions, Trans-Digital Technologies, and NCR Government Systems to provide pilot testing of fraudulent document detection technology to a limited number of airports. Each selected airport will receive a total of six detection units, two units from each vendor. The TSA says it will expand the deployment schedule following successful implementation and testing in the selected airport environments.

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

This technology, known as Credential Authentication Technology – Boarding Pass Scanning Systems (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 analysing and comparing security features embedded in the IDs. The TSA says this system supports its efforts to enhance the passenger screening by moving toward a more risk-based, intelligence-driven counterterrorism approach.

The TSA says its risk-based security measures focus its resources on those passengers that it knows the least about. It began testing CAT-BPSS at the TSA Systems Integration Facility (TSIF) in 2011 and says it continues to test the latest technologies available—expanding efforts to address evolving threats and improve the passenger screening experience.