The TSA imposed the limit so it can test technology needed for the program's goal: a nationwide network of airports offering pre-screened passengers a fast pass through security.
Airports could start the program as early as this summer when TSA begins approving applications, agency chief Kip Hawley said. Once 20 airports are approved, no more will be added until TSA finishes a year of taking public comment on Registered Traveler and refining the program.
The announcement nonetheless assured airport officials wondering whether TSA is serious about Registered Traveler. "Anything that moves it forward is a good thing, and this looks like it's moving forward," said Tim Anderson, deputy executive operations director at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Some airports have balked at Registered Traveler because the TSA has not listed security procedures it will waive for people who pass a background check. They found little new in TSA's statement Thursday that Registered Travelers "should receive an expedited and more convenient checkpoint experience."
"We're still where we were before — on the fence," said Jeff Fitch, director of public safety and security at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
"We're still a little short on details," said Pasquale DiFulco of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey, which runs Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said, "It remains to be seen whether travelers will have some significant benefit."
The TSA won't disclose security procedures it will waive, saying it doesn't want to tip off terrorists. It has said Registered Travelers may not have to remove shoes or coats or take laptops out of cases, though they still will be selected randomly at checkpoints for more intense searches that include pat-downs.
The limit on 20 airports will have little practical effect on a program likely to start gradually, said Steven Brill, whose Manhattan company Verified Identity Pass has been hired by four airports to run Registered Traveler programs. "We knew we couldn't launch more than 20 airports anyway in a year," Brill said.
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