ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 27, 2007 – The Registered Traveler (RT) program hit an important milestone with the introduction of operations at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The RT program is actively interoperable, with two different private-sector service providers operating at six airports across the country. Interoperability is a critical keystone in the RT program that allows cards, regardless of the service provider from which they were issued, to be read and accepted by other providers’ operating at participating airports. This is accomplished through the Central Information Management System (CIMS) which was developed and is operated by the Security Biometric Clearing Network (SBCN) for the Transportation Security Clearinghouse (TSC).

“These events are the culmination of the tireless efforts of airports, private industry, and the Transportation Security Administration, working as part of the Registered Traveler Interoperability Consortium, to create an interoperable RT program,” said Carter Morris, Senior Vice President at the American Association of Airport Executives. “As envisioned by airports, industry and TSA, today the program operates on an open platform creating an extremely secure and seamless experience for RT participants around the country.”

“We congratulate AAAE and the founding-member RTIC airport executives who have worked with us from the beginning to achieve the vision of an interoperable, private sector RT program that enhances both security and convenience,” said Steven Brill, the founder and CEO of Clear, which is now under contract to operate RT programs at nine airports, including JFK, Newark, Orlando and San Jose. “And we congratulate Unisys on their successful launch of a fine program in Reno and on joining an industry where fair competition and robust growth is assured because AAAE has implemented this trailblazing interoperability technology.”

“RT was envisioned as a benefit to travelers that would enhance the security measures TSA has implemented. Thanks to the interoperability work of the RTIC and TSC, that vision is brought to life as Registered Travelers move among participating airports through dedicated security lanes, alleviating some of the screening burden at the regular checkpoints,” said Bryan Ichikawa, program director, rtGO, Unisys.

The CIMS is the world’s most advanced interoperable identity management system of its kind, using both fingerprint and iris biometric data. The SBCN, partnering with tier-one biometric and identity management companies such as Daon, Motorola and LG Iris Technology, began operation of the CIMS for the TSC within days of TSA’s approval of the Registered Traveler Interoperability Consortium (RTIC) Technical Interoperability Specification.

Tom Grissen, CEO of Daon commented, “As we have seen in similar initiatives around the world, achieving interoperability on a sophisticated national program such as Registered Traveler relies, not only on leading technology, but also encompasses significant policy issues, as well as legal and operational requirements.  Daon has established a best practices approach to gain consensus on how identities are going to be authenticated and handled consistently across all participants in a transaction.   We are frequently involved in bringing together the various stakeholders to accomplish these interoperability goals and are proud of the work we have done on the development of CIMS as we continue to demonstrate our long-term commitment to RT through our partnership with SBCN and the service providers.”  

The CIMS is necessary to meet the interoperability requirements of the specification and performs several key functions, such as processing all records, interfacing with the TSA for background checks, ensuring a chain of trust from vetted enrollments and issued credentials, and sending alerts to all service providers regarding revoked credentials.

The Registered Traveler program provides expedited security screening processes and an extra layer of security for passengers who volunteer biometric and biographic information to a TSA-approved RT vendor and successfully complete a TSA-conducted security threat assessment. RT is a private sector program, supported and overseen by the Transportation Security Administration. Lanes are operational at six airports with five more airports scheduled to begin operations shortly. An additional seven airports intend to operate RT at their facilities in the near future and are actively soliciting from the five service providers currently approved by TSA.

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