To journalist and entrepreneur Steven Brill, the idea sounded like common sense — nearly four years ago. In a December 2002 Newsweek column on the need for better national security systems, Brill wrote, "One possibility — which I find so logical that, after studying the security and legal issues involved during the past year, I am tempted to try launching myself — would be a system based on some kind of credible but voluntary nationally accepted identification card. The card need not be a government program. It could be issued by private companies licensed by the federal government, which would strictly regulate the card's standards and use."
Brill — the founder of Court TV, past CEO of American Lawyer Media, and author of After: How America Confronted the September 12th Era (Simon & Schuster, 2003) — quickly surrendered to that temptation, launching Verified Identity Pass Inc. the following year.
The company's "volunteer identity credentialing" product, the Clear card and system, has been operating in Orlando Airport since June 2005. Through early February, more than 15,000 travelers had enrolled in the program. San Jose and Indianapolis airports will soon roll out the program, and Brill expects many more U.S. airports to follow suit this year.
The program's effects on security line waiting time seem substantial: The company reports that the average wait time in "ClearLanes" at Orlando is four seconds, compared to four minutes and sixteen seconds in traditional security lines.
Applicants can begin the enrollment process by furnishing personal information online. Photographs, plus an iris image and ten fingerprints, must be processed in person at a participating airport or at one of Verified Identity's mobile enrollment stations. Then the biometric and biographic information is sent to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for approval. The company provides a guarantee against identity theft, and Ernst & Young's January audit of Clear's privacy policies and practices confirmed that the company is making good on its privacy assertions.
As of February 1, the cost of a one-year membership was $79.95; two-year ($159.90) and three-year ($239.85) sign-ups are also available. Hyatt and Hertz recently purchased Clear memberships for some of their customer tiers.
"We do go to the larger professional services firms first and offer slight discounts for bulk subscriptions," says Brill, who notes that law firm Skaaden Arps is a customer. "The better thing we offer is that we'll bring the enrollment center to them." Boston's Logan Airport has expressed interest in the Clear system. "When that happens," Brill adds, "we will go to Boston-based consulting firms with a very direct story to tell." The same holds true for New York, where the Port Authority, which runs the airports, has indicated that it expects to submit a request for proposals this spring.
The TSA is in the process of setting the ground rules for registered travel programs. Once airports decide that they want to hire a service provider, they submit a plan to the TSA, which must approve the program and vendor. Right now, it's a one-firm field, although Brill expects to confront competition sooner or later.
His company will be well prepared and well heeled: GE, a Verified Identity Pass investor, has developed a shoe scanner that operates while Clear members submit their cards, prints, and irises for inspection — eliminating the need for them to remove their shoes and pruning additional seconds off their wait time.
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