CLEAR led a flyer carrying ammo under a false name to TSA, sparking probe

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-28/man-carrying-ammo-sparks-probe-of-how-clear-cuts-airport-lines

44 93 3 years ago

__derek__2• 3 years ago

In total, the TSA raised concerns about almost 49,000 Clear customers who were enrolled despite facial-recognition software flagging them as non-matches, and concluded its broader methods were inherently inferior to how the government checks travelers’ IDs, the people said. Enrollment photos seen by Bloomberg in some cases didn’t show a face at all and instead, for example, a shoulder and ceiling.

This seems like it ought to be a huge story.

landemva2• 3 years ago

Nah, as the people still have to go through screening no different than elderly or children (leave on shoes). Ramp workers go through separate doors with keypads- no screening. Even TSA doesn't screen themselves, as if a TSA government employee could not be bribed or coerced to take items around screening.

__derek__2• 3 years ago

There's no ID check after passing Clear, so this would be a way to avoid no-fly lists and other restrictions on travel.

Hermitian9092• 3 years ago

It shouldn't because the TSA does not serve a real purpose other than to be a jobs program.

There has been a great deal of evidence over the years that the safety measures of the TSA are easily bypassed (google "TSA security theater" for a wealth of sources) and there's no evidence of increased safety since the department was created.

hn_throwaway_996• 3 years ago

This is such a common refrain ("it's security theater"), but I never hear any alternatives that I think would be slightly viable.

To be clear, not really making an argument on TSA vs private security screeners that were in use before 9/11. But I am making the argument that those who like to shout "security theater" - what do you think is a better alternative? Do you honestly think it would ever work to just let flyers board planes with no screening of them or their luggage? When the inevitable jet loads of people are taken down by a terrorist bomb, the populous at large would be scrambling for more security, basically like they were after 9/11.

Basically I'd like to know what your alternative proposal is.

cuuupid• 3 years ago

I’d be the first to say I’m not a fan of the TSA but this is a bit of an extreme take.

Yes, you can bypass the measures, but there’s a fallacy in assuming they don’t still stop bad actors.

iirc the TSA failure rate is an abysmal 70%, but I’d wager that for determined, organized individuals a lock has the same failure rate. You can easily break past a lock but does that mean we should be leaving our doors, cars etc unlocked?

The solution is probably to replace them or improve them but not get rid of them altogether. Or perhaps the solution is to increase the purview of DHS here, which is generally more skilled and has comparatively stellar performance stopping domestic threats.

Simulacra2• 3 years ago

22 years after 9/11, there has not been a serious aviation terrorist attack in America. I don't think anybody likes TSA, but it's better than nothing. It's too bad the National Guard or the military can't run it

hn_throwaway_996• 3 years ago

That paragraph is a bit misleading/unclear in my opinion, and is further explained lower in the article. Basically the Clear enrollment process is this:

1. First, the prospective enrollee needs to be matched to their ID. The normal way to do this is to take the person's picture, and then facial recognition software matches that face with their ID. However, since facial recognition isn't perfect, there is a "manual override" process where a Clear employee manually checks your ID and says "yes, this is you." That's why I don't think the sentence about "Enrollment photos seen by Bloomberg in some cases didn’t show a face at all and instead, for example, a shoulder and ceiling" is really that big a deal, because in those cases the photo was just ignored, and the person's ID was manually verified (which is what TSA agents do anyways).

2. Once your ID has been verified, then the Clear system scans your retina and your fingerprints. For any flights then that you want to board, Clear just does a retina scan to look up your ID.

The problem is that if the original ID verification is wrong (e.g. the applicant had someone else's ID that just happens to look similar to them, think of the 20 year old trying to get into the bar with their older sibling's ID), it basically would allow the person to fly unlimited without their ID ever being checked again. That is, you only need to "sneak in" once.

I think a better solution is to just more periodically revalidate IDs, and pick some percentage for random additional verification.

mistrial9• 3 years ago

As a US Citizen with "western values" the CLEAR program was always suspicious for "slippery slope" reasons. Meanwhile, a wealthy South Asian man nearby who lives and does business completely in the USA, applied for and got CLEAR ID immediately when the program was made public, long ago. We speculated that since he is dark skinned with a foreign name, he was concerned about being singled out for security ? Post-911 was a bad time for the USA. The article here says in the fine print at the bottom that there may be little legal basis for a number of common TSA practices, but there is literally no choice. Combine that with scrupulous license plate readers and the "shoes off" ritual, it really does seem like an alternate social system.

yieldcrv• 3 years ago

You still go through metal detectors with CLEAR and can still be singled out for additional security at that point? Its just a fast pass to the front of the line, like TSA Pre.

I have both and I've sometimes waited for CLEAR kiosks/agents to open up, and got impatient and went to TSA Pre, and vice versa.

edit: okay from the article it suggests at one point they did let you skip security completely with CLEAR.

khuey• 3 years ago

As far as I know CLEAR has never allowed you to skip the actual security check.

JumpCrisscross6• 3 years ago

who lives and does business completely in the USA, applied for and got CLEAR ID immediately when the program was made public

Are you mixing up Clear and Global Entry? Clear only expedites domestic flights [EDIT: departures]. And it never let you skip security, just get to the front of the line.

jen204• 3 years ago

I don’t think Clear distinguishes between domestic and international flights.

AlotOfReading• 3 years ago

For some additional context as to how Clear exists, airports have the responsibility for managing passenger flow up to the TSA checkpoint. Within the checkpoint, it's all government-run. This is why Clear subscribers still have to take off their shoes.

Clear's business model is to give airports part of the subscriber revenue in return for allowing their employees manage the queues, which they use to direct subscribers into checkpoints with shorter lines.

Zak6• 3 years ago

I've long held the opinion that the government should ban all forms of paying a third party extra for shorter waits in security lines, but then wealthy frequent travelers would start pushing back on the security process itself.

bonestamp2• 3 years ago

Honest question, what if I pay the government itself (Nexus/Global Entry) for the shorter line (in exchange for a one-time but deeper security scan)?

profile53• 3 years ago

Wouldn’t that be a good thing given that much of it is security theater?

phpisthebest• 3 years ago

The question then becomes is that security really doing anything, or is it just to make people feel like it is doing something

I maintain it is latter, at the expense of multiple very real and often dismissed constitutional issues

koolba• 3 years ago

+1000 and they should ban TSA precheck as well. Combine that with mandating that Congress travel commercial and wait in line with the proletariat and you’ll have a solution faster than you can say “equal treatment”.

arcticbull7• 3 years ago

Air travel is a luxury. Basically everything else in the airport is private and for a huge fee except the airport itself - and even that's not universally true. If they want to charge for shorter lines why not? Government services charge expedite fees for basically everything else, why not here?

Seems a weird place to draw the line, eh, $30 burgers and $8 water - equally optional - are fine, but $179/yr for people who value their time disproportionately highly is a step too far? Despite the average ticket costing some ~$300? [2]

This whole thing is kind of silly - the identity and name of the passenger shouldn't even matter in the first place, the security checkpoint should remove anything dangerous no matter what their name is. They don't though, TSA fails over 90% of their own red team operations. That's where the focus should be. [1]

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tsa-agents-minneapolis-airpo...

[2] https://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/domestic-airfa...

balls1874• 3 years ago

The price for clear is negligible—-$190/year which includes all minor family members.

It’s odd take to think that is something that is only attainable for wealthy travelers.

What’s the point of money if it cannot be exchanged for increased convenience?

arcticbull7• 3 years ago

Within the checkpoint, it's all government-run. This is why Clear subscribers still have to take off their shoes.

This isn't universally true, for instance at SFO checkpoints are run by a private contractor: Covenant Aviation Security or CAS. [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covenant_Aviation_Security

wahnfrieden• 3 years ago

I believe you can aggressively reject clear users from cutting in front of you because it’s privately managed

suthakamal3• 3 years ago

The author of this doesn’t fly much, and probably isn’t actually a clear member. Nobody who pays for clear uses it because they don’t want to show ID: any frequent traveller has ID (probably a Real ID, too) and uses Clear to jump to the front of the PRE line. Also, and frequent traveller probably encounters non-Clear airports so has yet another reason to ensure they’ve got ID.

As for one of the more bizarre comments here: No minorities are signing up for clear to skip TSA, it doesn’t do that… it merely puts you at the front of the TSA line.

This just seems like a rebel-without-a-clue ranting about … something?

JumpCrisscross6• 3 years ago

Nobody who pays for clear uses it because they don’t want to show ID: any frequent traveller has ID…uses Clear to jump to the front of the PRE line

The author concludes as much: “There’s been a lot of speculation that the requirement to show ID somehow undermines the usefulness of CLEAR. But maybe not showing ID is an ancillary benefit at best to the customer, even if it’s how the program is sold. We pretend it’s about identity verification when really it’s about priority in getting through security faster. It still does that. The usefulness of the service would change not at all.”

xur172• 3 years ago

We pretend it’s about identity verification when really it’s about priority in getting through security faster.

It's exactly this - a shorter line you can pay for under the guise of technology.

suthakamal3• 3 years ago

The author suggests that the program is sold on the basis of not requiring ID. This is untrue.

Simulacra2• 3 years ago

Does anyone else feel like clear? It's a little unfair? I finally gave into pre, but even that seems unfair.

nunez2• 3 years ago

How is it unfair? Pay the $179/yr, and you too can enjoy a (much) quicker security screening.

It's basically a tolled express lane for humans.

nimbius• 3 years ago

Being a trusted traveler with global entry, I loathe clear with a passion. It means 2 metres from the TSA checkpoint I have to let a family of six randos cut the precheck line I was told to stand in and wait while they fumble for their ID and juggle their shoes.

Just roll them to the back of the line and stop acting like the fact that they surrendered s generation of biometric data to a startup entitles them to anything more than equality.

crmd• 3 years ago

I’m the type of guy who runs a pihole and types in 867-5309 as my shoppers club lookup at the supermarket checkout, but I have never more gladly traded a little privacy for time than when purchasing Clear. I would have gladly given them a stool sample if it meant never having to wait in security theater line at JFK.

Racing0461• 3 years ago

Clear puts them in front of the general line. if you have ge won't you be in the precheck line? unless they have clear + precheck. but i guess this varies by airport too.

searealist• 3 years ago

Maybe it varies by airport. FWIW, I also see them ushered in front of the pre check line.

lotsofpulp4• 3 years ago

Clear is already a publicly listed company:

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/YOU/clear-secure/m...

xracy• 3 years ago

At my local airport, you can schedule a time ahead with TSA. It is 100% free, and they basically provide the same service of "walking you to the front of the TSA line."

Seems like a better option than paying a corporation for "convenience".

byteCoder• 3 years ago

Note: I have TSA Precheck and CLEAR.

I'm not sure how someone could get through with the incorrect identity unless their eye scan results in the record of someone with the same name.

The process for CLEAR is:

1. Stand next to the kiosk for recognition. For whatever reasons, the machines always seem to have problems with me, but eventually get a good scan and bring up the correct record.

2. Scan your boarding pass at the kiosk, which (supposedly) validates that you're on a flight at this airport and that your name matches what's on the boarding pass.

3. You're escorted to the TSA agent, the CLEAR agent vouches for you, and you just wave your boarding pass in the air to the TSA agent (no scanning).

Often (including this week), I get flagged to show my identification to the CLEAR agent and to the TSA agent. Ultimately, I could have gone through less hassle with simply the TSA Precheck line.

Many times the TSA Precheck line is actually faster. However, when that line is backed up (usually at certain airports like DCA), having CLEAR is a winner. YMMV

CLEAR led a flyer carrying ammo under a false name to TSA, sparking probe

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