Posted on 04/27/23
| News Source: WBAL TV
There are new high-tech security measures in place across all security checkpoints at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, and they are self-service.
Every traveler flying out of the airport will come face-to-face with this new technology.
BWI-Marshall is the first airport in the U.S. to be fully equipped with the new credential authentication technology or CAT-2 terminals.
Transportation Security Administration supervisor Craig Hudson said there are 36 of them in place at every security checkpoint.
"It's still the same flow of traffic, it just makes it easier to understand. It makes it easier to catch something that's not accurate," he said.
The CAT-2 terminals flag fake IDs, confirm biometrics and validate flight information.
Christopher Murgia is TSA's federal security director for Maryland.
"The CAT-2 system has a photograph capability and is able to obtain the biometrics from an individual's credentials that they present to us," he said.
Hudson said your private information is safe.
"It does not save anyone's data. It just clears it out. And you move on to the next person," he said.
It's a significant security enhancement, officials said. The technology can detect invalid identification by finding defects you can't see with the naked eye.
"Fake IDs are a big thing. If the alignment is off on them, if the printing is off on them, it can catch it. And we can see that they can catch the fake stuff," Hudson said.
TSA officials said the terminals reduce touchpoints and speed up the security process.
"It does make a very efficient travel experience for our passengers," Murgia said.
Passengers must still check in with their airline and bring their boarding pass to the gate.