Completing the installation of facial comparison technology at airport security checkpoints will take into the mid-2040s given current “constrained” funding levels, Transportation Security Administrator (TSA) David Pekoske said on Wednesday.
Low funding is already stretching out completing the deployment of next-generation carry-on baggage scanners at airport security checkpoints until about 2036 and it will be another 10 years before credential authentication technology (CAT) equipped with biometrics is fully operational, Pekoske told the Senate Commerce, Science, & Transportation Committee.
The committee met to consider Pekoske’s nomination for a second five-year term to lead TSA. His current term expires in August.
TSA continues to roll out the basic CAT devices, which are desktop units installed with the agency’s Travel Document Checkers that scan a passenger’s travel credential to enable automated checks against the Secure Flight database to ensure that the traveler has a flight reservation that day and to check their vetting status.
The agency has been conducting field evaluations of the CAT-2 system, which includes a camera to take a photo of a passenger’s face to either match it against the photo on their travel document or compare it to facial images in a small database maintained by Customs and Border Protection for flights from a particular airport that day.
IDEMIA is the current contractor for CAT. TSA is planning further evaluations of CAT-2 devices and said in May that a solicitation for the biometric-equipped system is forthcoming.
House appropriators have agreed to provide $22.3 million for the CAT program in fiscal year 2023. About 2,000 CAT devices have been deployed. TSA officials have said in addition to acquiring CAT-2 devices, they will upgrade existing installed systems with a camera.
TSA’s procurement budget is feeling crimped these days. In addition to a slow rollout for the CAT-2 devices, the agency doesn’t expect to complete installations of its marquis technology program, checkpoint computed tomography (CT) carry-on baggage scanners, until about 2036.
Pekoske late in 2021 said that TSA needs about $350 million annually to complete the checkpoint CT deployments within the next five years. In FY ’22, Congress provided about $105 million for the program and TSA is seeking the same amount in FY ’23.
One way TSA might get around its funding constraints if is airlines and airports purchase technology and then donate it to the agency. This has happened in a few instances with checkpoint CT systems.
During the hearing, Pekoske said his top two priorities are increasing pay for Transportation Security Officers and obtaining full collective bargaining rights for his agents. The current limited collective bargaining rights have not been sufficient in boosting agent pay, which on average lags similar federal employees by 30 percent, he said. TSA also struggles with annual employee turnover of about 20 percent and pay is perennially a top concern of agents, he told the committee.