While the American public has been forced to produce picture ID cards in order to fly from any public airport in the country, pilots are still using ID cards that Representative Mica likens to a “Cracker Jack prize paper identification.” Even with a Congressional mandate, the FAA has still, after 6 years, not managed to create a photo/tamperproof/biometrically-enabled ID card.

Saying, “This looks like a Three Stooges episode,” U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Republican leader John L. Mica (R-FL) called the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) faltering attempt to produce an effective, tamperproof license for thousands of commercial passenger airline pilots another fiasco.

“When I chaired the Aviation Subcommittee six years ago, we worked to require in law the development of a tamperproof pilot’s certificate or license and eliminate the Cracker Jack prize paper identification that had been in use at the time,” Mica said. “Written into the law are requirements that the license would include the individual pilot’s photo, as well as be tamperproof and biometrically-enabled.

“It is mind-boggling that six years later, after spending millions of dollars, the FAA license still does not include the pilot’s photo or any biometric measures.”

Mica noted, “The only pilots pictured on the license are Wilbur and Orville Wright.”

Mica outlined his concerns with the failure to develop a suitable pilot’s identification in a letter to FAA Administrator Randolph “Randy” Babbitt, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator/Assistant Secretary John Pistole. (Click here for full letter.)

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 included a provision directing the FAA Administrator to develop improved pilot licenses or certificates that are resistant to tampering, alteration, and counterfeiting. The law also stipulated that they include a photograph of the pilot and accommodate a digital photograph, a biometric identifier, or any other unique identifier the Administrator considers necessary. Although new pilot licenses are no longer paper, they still do not include any of the other requirements set forth in the 2004 law.

Mica added, “Although the FAA now requires all pilots to have the plastic pilot certificates, I discovered that in issuing these plastic licenses, the FAA has ignored the photograph and biometric requirements set forth in the 2004 law and the 2005 deadline to meet those requirements. I want to know why these agencies have seemingly ignored the 2004 law.”

FAA estimated the federal cost to replace the paper licenses with plastic cards to be as much as $6.75 million over five years.

Mica continued, “This fiasco was brought to us by three finger-pointing agencies – DHS, TSA, and FAA – each blaming or waiting for the others to act first. This looks like a Three Stooges episode.

“This is a sad commentary on federal ineptitude, especially considering that a commercial pilot’s license is one of the most important security documents issued by the government.”

Mica went on to say, “This is only the latest federal ID card fiasco. A Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) for maritime industry workers was mandated in 2002, and after slow progress and missed deadlines, TSA finally began issuing TWIC cards in October 2007.

“However, even after these delays, there are still no approved readers in use to verify the TWIC’s biometric identifiers. Without any readers, TWIC cards are no more useful as a biometric ID than the plastic cards issued by the FAA,” Mica said.

Most port employees in the United States are required to purchase the $132.50 high tech TWIC card, the creation of which was required under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. After Congress grew frustrated with the slow development of the cards, it set a deadline to issue TWIC cards in the SAFE PORT Act of 2006. TSA missed the July 2007 deadline to issue the cards, and has also missed the April 2009 deadline to issue final rules for the deployment of TWIC readers. TSA is still conducting the pilot program and does not expect to issue final rules for the readers until late 2012.

Biometric identification cards are not a new technology for government agencies. The U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy and most nuclear power plants regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) employ biometric technologies in access control, as does the New York Police Department.

Charlie Leocha

Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.