TSA’s airport facial-recog tech faces audit probe

The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has launched an audit of the Transportation Security Administration’s use of facial recognition technology at US airports, following criticism from lawmakers and privacy advocates.

Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari notified a bipartisan group of US Senators who had asked for such an investigation last year that his office has announced an audit of TSA facial recognition technology in a letter [PDF] sent to the group Friday. 

“We have reviewed the concerns raised in your letter as part of our work planning process,” said Cuffari, a Trump appointee who survived the recent purge of several Inspectors General. 

“[The audit] will determine the extent to which TSA’s facial recognition and identification technologies enhance security screening to identify persons of interest and authenticate flight traveler information while protecting passenger privacy,” Cuffari said. 

The letter from the Homeland Security OIG was addressed to Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who co-led the group of 12 Senators who asked for an inspection of TSA facial recognition in November last year. 

“Americans don’t want a national surveillance state, but right now, more Americans than ever before are having their faces scanned at the airport without being able to exercise their right to opt-out,” Merkley said in a statement accompanying Cuffari’s letter. “I have long sounded the alarm about the TSA’s expanding use of facial recognition … I’ll keep pushing for strong Congressional oversight.”

The TSA has been utilizing facial recognition technology to screen passengers at US airports for several years, with a pilot program in 2023 testing a system made by Idemia in 25 airports. The TSA announced plans to expand this technology to as many as 430 airports in the next decade, which has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and elected officials. 

Merkley and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA, also a signatory on the November letter) introduced the Traveler Privacy Protection Act in November 2023 in response to the TSA pilot program. The bill aimed to ban the planned expansion, require Congressional approval for future trials, and mandate that the TSA cease using facial recognition technology within 90 days, disposing of any collected biometric data. However, it did not advance out of committee.

While Cuffari’s office was light on details of what would be included in the audit, the November letter from the Senators was explicit in its list of requests. 

They asked for the systems to be evaluated via red team testing, with a specific investigation into effectiveness – whether it reduced screening delays, stopped known terrorists, led to workforce cuts, or amounted to little more than security theater with errors.

When asked for comment on the matter, the TSA declined to comment, only acknowledging that the audit was currently underway. The Agency also pointed us to a fact sheet and press release on an award it won from Forbes Travel Guide for the use of facial recognition tech, in which it claimed an accuracy rate of 99.7 percent. 

There are an estimated 2.9 million air travelers per day in the US. At that rate of accuracy, around 8,700 people would still be misidentified per day if all were screened using TSA facial recognition technology. ®

READ MORE HERE