Federal air-security officials will scan the fingerprints of cargo workers at Denver International Airport and give special cellphones to clam diggers who work in the harbor near Boston’s airport as part of a new program aimed at preventing terrorist attacks on U.S. airports.
A test at DIA will use fingerprint-scanning technology beginning in June as part of a national assessment of various biometric security measures, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday.
Officials will integrate a fingerprint reader with ultrasonic emitters and microwave sensors to control access into a DIA cargo building and then track the activity of vehicles and workers more precisely within the cargo area, said TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon.
The fingerprint scan at DIA will be combined with an advanced video surveillance system to further monitor access.
The Denver airport project is one element of the government’s Airport Access Control Pilot program, which includes tests of various advanced technologies at more than a dozen U.S. airports.
At Boston’s Logan International Airport, which juts into the city’s harbor, clam diggers will be issued voice-recognition cellphones equipped with global positioning system technology to report any security threat to the nearby airport, the TSA said.
In the past, agency officials said clam diggers had undergone background security checks before being asked to alert authorities to any suspicious activities in the harbor.
The TSA will conduct other biometric tests this summer, including an iris scan at the Orlando, Fla., airport and installation of a “hand-geometry” reader at Salt Lake City’s airport.
The tests of both biometric systems will control the access of workers to secure, nonpublic areas of the airports.
Iris-recognition technology relies on about 170 distinctive characteristics in that portion of the human eye to accurately identify someone, according to a congressional report on aviation security last year.
Hand geometry takes 96 measurements of the hand, including the width, height and length of fingers, shape of knuckles and distances between finger joints to try to distinguish one person from another, the same report said.
Hand-geometry reading is not as precise as other biometric measures, the report added.
All the tests announced Monday by the TSA involve security screening of aviation- industry employees, or companion efforts to maintain secure perimeters at U.S. airports.
But similar tests involving fingerprint and iris scans are being used at some airports to screen passengers as well, said Walter Hamilton, chairman of the International Biometric Industry Association, based in Washington, D.C.
Some passengers are registering their fingerprints and iris scans with aviation authorities as part of “registered traveler” programs that allow passengers to pass more quickly through security checkpoints, Hamilton said.
Staff writer Jeffrey Leib can be reached at 303-820-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com.
