TSA To Further Expand Trusted Traveler Programs In 2013, Pistole Says

As part of its risk-based screening efforts, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) this year plans to further expand its use of trusted traveler programs, including deploying its PreCheck program to more airports while reaching out in new ways to include more participants, the head of the agency said recently.

Last year TSA completed the roll-out of its expedited passenger screening program it calls PreCheck to 35 airports in the United States that handle the largest amount of travelers and plans to further expand the program in the first quarter of 2013 to a number of additional airports, John Pistole, the TSA administrator, said at the International Aviation Club’s monthly luncheon. The details of the expansion are still being worked out but Pistole said that this year PreCheck will be expanded to more Category I airports and possibly including some Category II airports.

PreCheck is currently available to select frequent fliers of certain airlines and who apply to participate as well as members of certain trusted traveler programs managed by Customs and Border Protection, including Global Entry, which provides participants with expedited customs clearance upon arrival in the United States. PreCheck participants receive expedited screening benefits depending on the airline they are flying at designated security lanes at the 35 participating airports.

TSA already allows active duty military members to use the PreCheck lanes at six airports and that will expand to nine airports within a month, Pistole said. The Defense Department is working on a risk-based solution that TSA expects will enable active duty members to used PreCheck lanes at the current 35 airports within the next six months, he said. Members of the military use a smart credential, called a Common Access Card, with a card reader at the PreCheck lanes.

TSA is also looking to piggyback further on the Global Entry program to expand participation in PreCheck. Pistole said that about 40 percent of applicants to Global Entry in the fourth quarter of 2012 wanted to join the program so that they could become members of PreCheck to obtain access to the screening benefits.

Pistole said TSA is exploring a “Global Entry Light” program where applicants could sign up without using their passport but still go through an expedited application process for inclusion into PreCheck. The details of the program are still being worked out but could also include an option to upgrade to CBP’s Global Entry program, he said.

TSA has also begun to discuss with some of its international partners the idea of allowing select foreign nationals to use PreCheck within the United States. Pistole said last month that plans for this are further along with Canada.

TSA also recently issued a Request for Information to survey third party participation in the vetting of people for inclusion in PreCheck to further expand membership in the program. Pistole said that as TSA moves forward with the third party vetting initiative, he is hoping to avoid having to go through a federal rulemaking process, which would slow down implementation of the effort.

While PreCheck lanes have been used more than 5 million times by air travelers, participation at some airports has been under utilized, prompting airport officials to complain that the use of real estate for these lanes is taking away from the more frequently used non-PreCheck lanes.

To combat this problem, TSA last year began pilot programs at two airports where bomb detecting dogs, which are trained in vapor wake sniffing techniques, sniff the air of all passengers waiting in a security line and then Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) select certain travelers to pass through the PreCheck lane. TSA believes that so far these pilots have been successful but Pistole indicated that further expansion of the program may hinge on a pending Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report on a modified BDO program at Boston’s Logan International Airport.

The agency is looking at adding one to three additional airports to the pilot program, which it calls “managed inclusion.”