TSA Begins Security Check Long Before Your Flight

• By Ginger Hill
• Oct 22, 2013

Tis the season for holiday travel. And not to worry, while you’re waiting in line at Starbucks for your latte, and then at the store to pay for items to give as presents, TSA will probably be prescreening you.

According to TSA, their goal is to streamline security procedures to all passengers who pose no risk, so before you even arrive at the airport, it is likely that TSA is searching through government and private databases trying to locate information about you. This allows the government more authority to use traveler data for domestic airport screenings.

The details of this new prescreening have not been released, so it is unknown exactly what information TSA is using to make risk assessments; however, there are so many records that the agency can access including:

• Tax identification numbers;
• Car registrations;
• Employment information;
• Past travel itineraries;
• Property records;
• Physical characteristics;
• Law enforcement information; and
• Intelligence information.

TSA has been criticized for their one-size-fits-all screening methods, so they feel this initiative will make procedures more targeted as the main goal of the program is to identify low-risk travelers so that lighter screening can be done at airport security checkpoints.

 

Sources: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/security-check-now-starts-long-you-fly-8C11436326

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/business/security-check-now-starts-long-before-you-fly.html?hp&_r=1&