TSA is rolling out a new facial recognition technology to check IDs at airports across the country

• TSA's new technology snaps a real-time picture of a passenger and matches it with their scanned ID.
• It improves efficiency in checking IDs and speeds up checks by reducing human contact.

A new facial recognition technology is automatically matching passengers' real-time pictures to their IDs at Baltimore-Washington International/Thurgood Marshall Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration has started using 36 new credential authentication technology units at the airport, according to a recent press release.

A passenger inserts their ID into the unit for it to scan it, and the unit snaps a picture of the passenger and matches it with the photo on the ID, while automatically checking if they're due to fly out of the airport that day, and if the document is valid. The unit has a library of over 2,500 types of IDs for reference and the photos are not stored.

The new technology, called CAT-2, "enhances detection capabilities for identifying fraudulent IDs such as driver's licenses and passports at a checkpoint and it increases efficiency by automatically verifying a passenger's identification," Christopher Murgia, TSA's Federal Security Director for Maryland, said in the press release. "This helps ensure that we know who is boarding flights."

In other words, passengers won't have to hand TSA officers their boarding passes to clear security, while it's business as usual for the airline check-in process.

If someone doesn't want their picture taken, they can proceed with a standard ID check with a TSA officer, a TSA spokesperson previously told Insider.

TSA started using the technology in 2022, and similar units are also being used at Denver International Airport, and Salt Lake City International Airport, among others.