CLEAR service was supposed to help passengers at airports, but compromised aircraft safety

The passenger used the boarding pass found in the trash to get to the airport. A CLEAR employee escorted him through airport security, reports Politico.

Photo: IStock

CLEAR, which for a fee helps you get through airport checkpoints as quickly as possible, is under scrutiny from lawmakers after two security incidents.

In both cases, a CLEAR employee escorted passengers through TSA checkpoints who did not have identification and were not registered with CLEAR's identity verification service. The TSA briefed lawmakers on both incidents, which occurred in January and March of this year.

dangerous incidents

Lawmakers say the two incidents — along with another in July 2022 in which a passenger successfully used the CLEAR service using another person's identity — raise new questions about the company's security processes.

In both newly reported cases, passengers were able to pass through the checkpoint "due to a lack of oversight by CLEAR".

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One incident came to light because a passenger noticed that their boarding pass was for a different airport. In another, a person who did not have a ticket used a discarded boarding pass to get through security through the CLEAR lane. None of them boarded the plane.

In a July incident last year, a passenger successfully used the identity of another person in Alabama to apply for CLEAR services, which he used to board the plane. The CLEAR technology flagged the identifier as inappropriate, but the employee still missed it. The TSA discovered the identity discrepancy later when a passenger attempted to smuggle ammunition through a security checkpoint at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington.

The passenger, according to Crystal Nosal, a spokesman for the Washington Airports Authority, was charged with possession of a weapon and identity theft.

In the July 2022 incident, CLEAR said it was the result of a "human error" allowing a passenger to enroll in the program under a false name.

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Rep. Benny Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House committee overseeing the Department of Homeland Security, criticized what he called CLEAR's "weak security controls."

“We have been informed that there have been several security breaches over the past year due to CLEAR's lax security controls. After that, it became clear that the company was putting its own purpose above the safety of our aviation system,” Thompson said. “Every day the homeland is at greater risk until TSA takes action to fully close these vulnerabilities it was warned about last year.” We cannot afford any further delay."

CLEAR spokeswoman Annabelle Walsh said that for the company, "safety is the number one job and we have a zero tolerance policy."

Regarding the two recently identified incidents this year, Walsh said they "have nothing to do with our biometric system and are the result of an employee not following our strict protocols, after which we took immediate action."

The company said CLEAR fired the employees responsible for the omissions and their managers, and required all employees to retrain on the CLEAR review process.

Threat to business

However, officials have urged the TSA to begin requiring all CLEAR passengers to show their identification to a TSA agent. This may affect CLEAR's business, which charges $189 per year. Pre-screened passengers may use an eye or fingerprint scan, or both, before being escorted to the security line by a CLEAR employee. This allows people to avoid having their ID scanned before going to baggage screening.

“CLEAR will continue to work with DHS and TSA to implement new industry-wide digital identity standards that we have been working on together since 2020,” Walsh said.

But that may not be enough to satisfy lawmakers. Many require CLEAR passengers to show their ID to a TSA agent before proceeding to the baggage screening lane.

Last month, TSA announced that it would begin increasing the number of CLEAR passengers who must show their ID.

TSA spokesman R. Carter Langston said the TSA will require CLEAR passengers to use TSA Credential Authentication Technology machines to scan their ID cards.

“Currently, all passengers other than Registered Travelers are required to present their ID at the CAT block where available,” he said.

CLEAR is the only registered traveler program company.

In early June, TSA notified CLEAR that CLEAR users would be required to show identification and provided a 30-day notice and comment period.

Aside from the July 2022 incident, there are also questions about CLEAR's application methods for clients following last month's Bloomberg report. The report shows photographs of people whose faces were partially cropped in a photo of the app used with the company's biometric eye and fingerprint scanners.

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CLEAR stated that the photographs in question were not part of the registration process and that the company no longer uses face scanning to verify identity on the day of travel. Instead, it relies on fingerprints or eye scans.

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