A group of 12 senators in a letter have called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs (DHS) to scrutinize the use of facial recognition technology at US airports. The document expresses concern about the absence of an audit of measures to safeguard confidentiality and the lack of independent assessment of the accuracy of this technology.
According to the letter, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is set to roll out the technology in small and medium airports, increasing the total number of such installations to 430 across the country. The senators have questioned the necessity of facial recognition, pointing out that TSA already utilizes CAT-1 scanners that authenticate documents without capturing passengers’ photographs.
The letter’s authors have stressed that the system’s deployment in numerous large and medium-sized airports is happening without an independent assessment of its accuracy and without evaluating measures to safeguard passenger data. The letter also highlights that TSA has not presented Congress with evidence that the technology indeed aids in identifying counterfeit documents, reducing wait times at security checkpoints, or preventing terrorists from boarding airplanes.
Earlier, TSA officials had stated that facial scanning is not obligatory. However, the senators assert that the agency’s leadership recently announced plans to expand the technology’s use beyond checkpoints and eventually make the system mandatory. The letter references remarks by the head of TSA, made at a conference last year, about the potential transformation of the program into the largest federal surveillance database without Congressional approval.
The senators have called for a comprehensive assessment of the technology’s effectiveness, its genuine impact on expediting security screenings, and its ability to prevent individuals on watchlists from boarding flights. They have also proposed an evaluation of the processes involved in collecting, storing, and deleting passengers’ biometric data.
These systems have long been the subject of controversy and skepticism among politicians and human rights activists. Recently, concerns have arisen about potential plans to use facial recognition technology to identify and track migrant children at the border, including infants. However, the use of such technology on children raises significant ethical and practical concerns.
In the past four years, the DHS has amassed DNA samples from over 1.5 million immigrants and added them to a database used for criminal investigations, sparking public outrage and debates. DHS began collecting DNA from nearly all detained immigrants, even those held for short periods.
In October, reports emerged that AI cameras in the US are capturing Americans’ political beliefs. These images are obtained through cameras installed on vehicles initially designed to read license plates.