Clear, Company That Lets You Skip TSA Line, Failed to Catch Passenger With Fake Identity and Ammo

Clear Secure Inc., the private company that fast-tracks passengers through airport security, was the focus of a federal investigation after a man with a false identity and firearm ammunition slipped through its pre-flight screening process last year, according to a new report.

The would-be potential passenger made it through the Clear checkpoint at Reagan National Airport near Washington D.C. in July 2022 before a government scan detected the ammunition, which is barred from airplane cabins, and revealed the man's true identity, Bloomberg reported.

The Transportation Security Administration review found Clear's computer-generated photographs of customers, at times, also took blurry photos, capturing foreheads and faces that were blocked by garments and surgical masks, the outlet reported.

Those issues left the system vulnerable, as passengers who raised red flags were required to be manually screened by Clear employees, thereby allowing the potential for human error, according to the TSA probe.

Overall, the TSA flagged concerns about nearly 49,000 Clear customers who were enrolled in the company's database despite being identified as non-matches through facial-recognition software, people familiar with the investigation told Bloomberg.

Last month, the TSA required its agents to verify the identities of all Clear customers, the outlet reported.

"Accurate and reliable verification of passenger identity is foundational to aviation security and effective screening by TSA," an agency spokesman told the Daily Mail in a statement. 

"TSA is responsible for ensuring that all systems and programs, including those provided by private companies, meet requisite standards and will take necessary steps to ensure security needs are met."

Clear has tweaked its process since the TSA review, but is pushing back on some of the agency's demands, including that TSA manually check each of its customers.

The company -- which uses eye scans and fingerprints to identify its registered customers to help them avoid long security lines for a $189 annual fee -- has said the requirement would create "airport chaos," according to Bloomberg.

Clear has maintained last year's incident near Washington D.C. was isolated.

In a statement to The Messenger, Clear said the 2022 incident "was the result of a single human error – having nothing to do with our technology. We took immediate action to end the practice that led to the human error and took corrective action to fully re-enroll the minuscule percentage of our customers enrolled under this process."

The company added that in the last six months, the TSA has "reverified 4.7 million IDs without citing a single issue."

Following the launch of the TSA probe, Clear hired former Department of Homeland Security Administrator Jeh Johnson to lobby the agency, according to Bloomberg.

In a letter to the TSA in December, Johnson called the probe "a disproportionate and punitive overreaction" to a single security incident.

Still, the TSA review prompted Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, and another lawmaker to voice concerns about Clear late last year, Bloomberg reported.

“This is squarely a security matter and should not be influenced by outside lobbying,” Thompson told the outlet.