Airport Fast-Pass Moves Slowly

Clear, which lets screened travelers skip long security lines, epitomizes the pitfalls of developing technology for Homeland Security agencies

The inside of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York Getty

by Rachael King

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of three stories on the challenges and opportunities faced by the Homeland Security Dept. as it develops technology aimed at keeping the U.S. safe.

For Steven Brill, impatience was the mother of invention. Half a decade ago, as a journalist and entrepreneur who wrote a book about the U.S. response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, he shuttled frequently between New York and Washington, D.C. During long waits in airport security lines, Brill pondered a faster alternative and later wrote a Newsweek column contemplating the creation of a system that would give expedited passage to people who undergo extra up-front screening.

Lengthy airport lines are nothing compared with the delays Brill has endured as he has made the idea a reality.

Brill went on to found a company, Verified Identity Pass, that developed a system called Clear (www.flyclear.com) that is based on the ideas outlined in his magazine column. Registered users pay about $100 a year and go through a government-approved screening to prove they're not a security threat; in exchange, they're given express-lane access in airport security.

Dealing With Uncertainty

Clear operates through a program called Registered Traveler run by the Transportation Security Administration. It's the sort of alliance President George W. Bush envisioned in 2002 when he announced the creation of the Homeland Security Dept., which oversees TSA. "The [private sector's] creative genius will develop the information systems, vaccines, detection devices, and other technologies and innovations that will secure our homeland," Bush said then.

But making those partnerships work has proven a tall order. Unlike many tech companies that win government contracts, Brill's company didn't seek Homeland Security Dept. money. He built up a cadre of investors including General Electric's (GE) investing arm to put up the tens of millions of dollars needed to start operating in 11 airports. What he does need from Transportation Security is permission—for nearly everything. For smaller companies such as Brill's, the bureaucracy involved in making even the simplest decision can cause delay that hampers innovation and hurts the bottom line. "The worst thing in business is when something isn't predictable, where there's uncertainty," Brill says.

Some of the biggest uncertainties surrounding Clear include how far it can expand and whether it can live up to its potential in shortening wait times. The project has at times gotten bogged down in governmental red tape and has lacked TSA support, Brill and others say. TSA has let Registered Traveler "happen grudgingly, behind schedule, and only then because…Congress and…entrepreneurs have pushed it," according to Brill's written testimony for a July Congressional hearing.

Innovation Stalled in Testing

Brill has since changed his tune, saying the government has picked up the pace in some areas, such as testing new technology for use in fast-pass lanes. But the turnabout was a long time in the making, underscoring both the pitfalls and possibilities facing small businesses that venture to pair with Homeland Security.

Nowhere is that dichotomy plainer than in Clear's attempt to add new features, namely a shoe scanner that would let passengers keep shoes on while going through security. Testing took well over a year; critics say that was too long. During the July hearing, Washington, D.C. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton directed her frustration at TSA Administrator Kip Hawley. "I don't see anything in this testimony to give this committee or the people who are throwing money into innovation any hope," said Norton, a Democrat.

TSA says it supports innovation but won't cut corners to bring new features to the fore. "We are all for looking at new technology," says TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne. "Once the shoe scanner works, we're all for it." The TSA declined to make Hawley available for comment, but the official outlined his stance in Congressional testimony. While programs like Clear provide an in-depth traveler profile using biometric traits such as fingerprints, they may fail to weed out would-be malefactors who have never committed a crime. "All we have is the biometric of the individual who is not on the watch list."