Registered Traveler takes off from Florida
By Alice Lipowicz
Staff Writer
The nation’s first privately sponsored Registered Traveler program sanctioned by the Homeland Security Department began operating this week at Orlando International Airport in Florida.
Since June 21, when the program began accepting enrollments, about 4,000 people have paid an annual fee of $79.95 each to sign up and submit to background checks.
Once cleared, they receive special biometric smart cards to benefit from speedier clearance procedures through the airport. The smart cards contain chips with biometric information that allows the registered travelers to proceed through checkpoints more quickly.
Lockheed Martin Corp. and New York-based Verified Identity Pass Inc. are operating the program in partnership with the Homeland Security Department and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
The program requires registered travelers to submit 10 fingerprints — a standard that was selected because it is compatible with the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a large criminal database of 45 million prints, said Jim Carlson, manager of business development for biometrics with Lockheed Martin.
Background checks on enrollees are performed by DHS’ Transportation Security Administration and checked against FBI and other databases.