US: TSA PreCheck is stuck in its own security line
People who fly regularly often sing the praises of TSA PreCheck—the lane where travellers keep their belts, shoes, jackets, and laptops as the masses strip. But it turns out that expanding this much-praised option isn’t all that easy. The TSA has been eager to increase the number of Americans enrolled in PreCheck, which costs $85 for five years. One way to do this is to add additional vendors to review applications, a process the TSA spent the past year doing until it abruptly stopped, citing cybersecurity concerns. The agency said it couldn’t guarantee personal information used in testing proposed systems would be protected. If the process had been completed, as many as three firms would have been selected to collect applications and fingerprints. MorphoTrust USA, currently the sole vendor, was among those bidding, along with Clear, a biometric screening firm in which Delta owns a 5% stake. MorphoTrust is owned by Safran SA, the French aerospace conglomerate. A third bidder wasn’t identified. While the vendor review process was going on, MorphoTrust filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office arguing that the TSA must use a traditional procurement contract for new vendors. In May, the GAO rejected the protest, and the company took its complaint to the US Court of Federal Claims. The TSA’s withdrawal rendered that litigation moot, but one of the reasons cited by MorphoTrust in its objection was data security. The TSA said it still has a goal of getting 25m “trusted travelers” enrolled in PreCheck and three related programs by the end of 2019. Those programs currently have 9.3m people registered, including about 4m who have joined PreCheck. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-12-01/general/us-tsa-precheck-is-stuck-in-its-own-security-line
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US: TSA PreCheck is stuck in its own security line
People who fly regularly often sing the praises of TSA PreCheck—the lane where travellers keep their belts, shoes, jackets, and laptops as the masses strip. But it turns out that expanding this much-praised option isn’t all that easy. The TSA has been eager to increase the number of Americans enrolled in PreCheck, which costs $85 for five years. One way to do this is to add additional vendors to review applications, a process the TSA spent the past year doing until it abruptly stopped, citing cybersecurity concerns. The agency said it couldn’t guarantee personal information used in testing proposed systems would be protected. If the process had been completed, as many as three firms would have been selected to collect applications and fingerprints. MorphoTrust USA, currently the sole vendor, was among those bidding, along with Clear, a biometric screening firm in which Delta owns a 5% stake. MorphoTrust is owned by Safran SA, the French aerospace conglomerate. A third bidder wasn’t identified. While the vendor review process was going on, MorphoTrust filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office arguing that the TSA must use a traditional procurement contract for new vendors. In May, the GAO rejected the protest, and the company took its complaint to the US Court of Federal Claims. The TSA’s withdrawal rendered that litigation moot, but one of the reasons cited by MorphoTrust in its objection was data security. The TSA said it still has a goal of getting 25m “trusted travelers” enrolled in PreCheck and three related programs by the end of 2019. Those programs currently have 9.3m people registered, including about 4m who have joined PreCheck. <br/>
