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by iforgetti 1800 days ago
Anyone have details about the increased surveillance associated with TSA Pre mentioned in the article? I understood that these programs authenticated the passenger once but did not increase their ongoing surveillance. Bruce Schneier has some good work about how these programs do not enhance security. I always understood them as a means for the TSA to peel back some of the most cumbersome security theatre while still maintaining the perception of security among the general flying public.

Anyone have other thoughts or information on this point?

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/12/security_risk...
2 comments
sokoloff 1800 days ago
> What the Trusted Traveler program does is create two different access paths into the airport: high security and low security.

I think that testing has showed it’s created two low-medium security paths, one with high theater and one with lower theater.

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kube-system 1800 days ago
Yeah, not sure what the author is trying to say here. I’d much rather submit my fingerprints than a mm-wave scan of my entire body.
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mcculley 1800 days ago
I am in TSA Pre and Global Entry and have still had to go through the mm-wave scanner.
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kube-system 1800 days ago
Was it an airport without a dedicated prescreen line? I’ve personally never had this happen at any of the dozen or so airports I’ve gone though, but they were all large airports.

Unless things have changed in the past several years, you should be able to opt out of the mm-wave scanner for a pat down instead. Although I guess you could do this without pre-check/GE. It just takes more time.

Between the two, I have managed to never walk through a mm-wave scanner.

As an aside, why are you in precheck if you have GE? GE gives you everything precheck has

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mcculley 1800 days ago
I have had to go through mm-wave scanners in MIA and MCO. I am sure I could have opted out if I were willing to go through the process of explaining things to the TSA employee instead of just rushing through.

I am in both because I enrolled in TSA Pre and then about a year later needed to be in Global Entry due to a sharp increase in international travel. Once my TSA Pre expires, I don't expect to have both. Right now, various frequent flyer programs still have my TSA Pre number entered and I just leave it alone.

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