"New York airport eyes scanner security"

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Airport eyes scanner security 
System will move registrants more quickly through checkpoints at Albany  
By ERIC ANDERSON
The Albany (NY) Times Union
 
 
COLONIE -- Eye scans and fingerprint readers could be part of a new effort
to shorten the wait at security checkpoints for travelers at Albany
International Airport and dozens of other terminals nationwide.

Albany International is one of more than 50 airports seeking to establish a
registered traveler program with compatible equipment, procedures and a
networked computer database. They've joined the Registered Traveler
Interoperability Consortium of the American Association of Airport
Executives, which is seeking a coordinated security screening approach for
frequent travelers.

The Transportation Security Administration, established to improve airport
screening after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has been operating a pilot
program involving five airports. The program recently concluded, but it was
extended through January at Orlando International Airport in Florida.

TSA spokeswoman Tara Uselding said response to the program had been
positive.

Airports would create a dedicated line for travelers who registered and paid
a fee to help cover the program's costs. While anyone could participate,
planners expect the program would be most attractive to frequent fliers.
Participants would undergo a background check and be provided with an
identity card that might include biometric information.

Travelers would still go through a metal detector and be subject to
additional searches if they triggered it. Absent that, however, they
wouldn't be subject to a secondary security check, as some now are.

A traveler registered in Albany could go through the line at any other
participating airport.

"We want the person also to be able to go through the registered traveler
line at the returning airport," said Paul Varville, federal security
director for the TSA at Albany International Airport.

Varville estimates the program wouldn't be launched for at least six months,
and it would be phased in over time. It's not clear how much the effort
might cost.

Airports in the registered traveler network include Boston's Logan, Dallas
Fort Worth, Denver, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Smaller airports, including Bangor in Maine and Tupelo Regional in
Mississippi, also are part of the network. And while the nation's two
busiest airports, Atlanta Hartsfield and Chicago O'Hare, aren't yet members,
a spokeswoman said she expects they will participate.

"We had a meeting this past weekend, and there were representatives from
Atlanta at that meeting who spoke very strongly of a national program," said
Colleen Chamberlain, director of transportation security policy for the
American Association of Airport Executives.

Albany International already has equipment in place that scans the irises of
employees' eyes for positive identification. Under a $189,000 pilot program
funded by the federal government, it installed three scanners, at the
terminal's security checkpoint, the airport operations center and in the
baggage claim area, where workers move out to the airport apron.

Airport officials say the iris scan is more accurate than fingerprints and
can be used in inclement weather when airport employees are wearing gloves.

Employees swipe their ID card in a reader, then look into the iris scanner,
which matches the iris image to one in its database, a process that takes 2
to 3 seconds.

One traveler who flies between 50,000 and 100,000 miles a year said he's all
for the program if it's consistent across airports and truly saves him time.

"I like the idea," said Steve Cosgrove, vice president of technical sales
and support at Acusim Software Inc. in Glenville. "Would I pay $100? Maybe.
$50? Definitely, if this will allow me to squeeze more minutes out of my
day."


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