SPOKANE, Wash. — A new kind of security checkpoint is coming to the Spokane International Airport.
It’s called Credential Authentication Technology, or CAT units, and TSA hopes this optional security step will make things easier and safer for travelers and TSA agents.
“If you’re traveling at any time and that person seated next to you has been vetted and you know they are who they say they are, you’re going to feel better about that process,” said TSA Public Affairs officer Lorie Dankers.
Once you get to the checkpoint, you have to take your physical photo ID and put it in the machine. It will then take a picture of you and match it to the one on your ID.
“The technology streamlines a lot of the functions TSA officers used to do manually,” Dankers said. “It streamlines it because the information is presented at the same space on the screen every single time. By having that real-time photo, we’re able to make that match to the person with the ID.”
TSA said it uses the information on your ID to match it with a database of everyone flying in a 24-hour period. It said the CAT units don’t store any of the photos they take.
“It is optional, one hundred percent,” said Greg Hawko, TSA Federal Security Director in Washington. “We have signage at all of our locations around the country that passengers can opt-out and go through a different form of ID verification.”
If you choose to go through with having your ID verified by a CAT unit, you will be able to skip bringing your boarding pass to the security line. You will still need the boarding pass if you’re going through TSA pre-check and once you get to your gate.
“Because they’re tied to the secure flight database when it pulls your biographical information, it also pulls up your flight information,” Dankers said.
TSA said these machines will also be able to spot fake IDs, even down to the small details like the spacing of letters.
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