After three reported incidents over the past year where CLEAR allowed passengers to reach airport security checkpoints without having their identities verified, there was talk of everyone going through CLEAR also having their IDs checked by TSA.
- At the end of the day, the benefit for passengers of going through CLEAR is skipping to the front of the security line, not being able to avoid taking out their IDs.
- And CLEAR fired employees and their managers involved in failing to follow proper procedure, the kind of accountability that you do not see at TSA.
Now the Washington Post reports that TSA has put in writing in a letter to CLEAR that “it would require that a smaller proportion of Clear members undergo additional identity vetting.” Already CLEAR members were randomly selected to show ID at the checkpoint.
TSA serves as both the security regulator and service provider. They regulate themselves, and that’s what’s dangerous. CLEAR is actually more accountable. The point of having identity verified of course is so that passengers can be checked against government watch lists which are themselves flawed and full of holes, pre-crime profiling where names are added by mistake or by government agents acting in retribution for unrelated matters, and where passengers face unconstitutionally arbitrary and cumbersome procedures for being cleared from the list which imposes undue burdens on the constitutionally-protected right to travel.
Update: a TSA spokesperson adds,
“TSA is responsible for ensuring that all systems and programs, including those provided by private companies, meet requisite standards and will take necessary steps to ensure security needs are met. Accurate and reliable verification of passenger identity is foundational to aviation security and effective screening by TSA. TSA requires the Registered Traveler (RT) to comply with TSA’s RT-related security requirements, including where available, the future use of state-of-the-art Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) units for passenger identity and flight screening status verification. TSA has established a timeline with milestones for this to occur. Currently, all passengers except RT participants are required to present identification at the CAT unit, where it is available.”
And if all the Security Theater was truly efficient then these hopeless lists wouldn’t even be considered. Basically they imply that the TSA procedures are not good enough. Yes, the idea is to have different layers of defense, but this one is pretty sad, and better for avoiding the resale of tickets than anything else. But then internal passports are hallmarks of authoritarian thinking. But so long as people put up with this and the nightmarish scanners somebody will enjoy the power of doing such things. And big corporations will profit from it, as will those who receive their “political contributions” from them. (I’ve followed out who makes those scanners and who is on their boards, and these are not little companies.)
I used clear STL last Saturday; they escorted me to the precheck scanner line. The TSA person behind the counter asked where my card was. I told her I came through CLEAR, they made me go back through TSA (front of the line) Since I have both I thought it was pointless to use CLEAR in the future.
Can we stop with the whole CLEAR is being accountable bullshit? The TSA was clearly threatening their program. They screwed up over 60,000 times and the public wasn’t having it. There’s no way you don’t know something like that is going on, or if you do you obviously don’t care…I’m not sure which is worse. This isn’t CLEAR doing the right thing, they are just saving their bacon.
I fly weekly and you would not believe the amount of prohibited items that I have taken thru TSA in my carry on. One thing they always catch is expensive cologne
At what point are we going to revert to common sense airport security? No guns or knives. That’s it. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all walk into the airport, drop our bags on a continuously moving belt into a scanner, and grab them on the other side without stopping to show our IDs?
“where passengers face unconstitutionally arbitrary and cumbersome procedures for being cleared from the list which imposes undue burdens on the constitutionally-protected right to travel”
I don’t know where in the constitution the right to travel on a commercial airlines is implied , it’s certainly not an enumerated right.
The internal TSA investigation showed that they missed over 90% of prohibited items. Considering the number of passengers screened 60k is a rounding error in terms of screw ups.
And what the TSA is really saying is that their security scans do absolutely nothing and only ID verification is keeping you safe… That seems like a silly message from the domestic terrorist organization that is the TSA and Homeland Security Theater.
Maybe not “all” CLEAR every time will have to show ID, but of my last 6 flights, I’m at 50% for “randomly selected” to show ID.
Add that to the fact that the number of agents servicing the CLEAR stations are becoming less and less, the lines are now often longer for CLEAR than for TSA Pre alone.
If I wasn’t getting CLEAR for free, I would have serious doubts as to why I would pay for it.
Agreed Tony there is no constitutional right to fly. It’s annoying flight keeps being equated with travel. People can drive or take a train.
Tony, go reread the 10th amendment and you’ll find your answer. “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
As a reminder, rights aren’t enumerated. Rights are given by G-d. The Constitution doesn’t exist to “give” rights because governments are incapable of “giving” rights. Instead, the Constitution outlines the very limited powers that the federal government can exercise in order to protect our rights.
Ugh. CLEAR at MSP just made me show ID. I complained to the Ambassador, llistened to her lies, and told her I’d take it up with corporate. While the general line had a 20-minute wait, the priority line had only one person in it. It would have been faster to use my priority status than my CLEAR status. I waited for the Ambassador to hand my ID to the TSA staffer who perused it and handed it back to me and then the ambassador left me and I proceeded to the bins pile. What a joke and waste of time and money for me!