BASIC TO THWART TSA

By D.E.Levine

The Biometric Airport Security Identification Consortium (BASIC) was specifically formed to prevent the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from imposing government mandated access control standards.

BASIC is focused on creating a framework from which USA airports can adopt a biometric-enabled access control system for their employees.

A major industry initiative that currently includes 40 airports, ranging in size from the smallest to the largest, the airports' administration are interested in building upon their existing access control equipment instead of completely reconfiguring their systems.

The large investments that airports have already made in legacy access control systems played a large part in their decision to join BASIC and add enhancements incrementally.

The ultimate goal is to implement biometric access control, but before getting to that stage there is a great deal of information to collect, TSA ideas to incorporate in the BASIC system, and testing and collaborating between airports on test results.

A standard biometric framework timetable has not been established yet, but that too will be a part of the overall process.