Template revised April 12, 2018.

COMMISSION

AGENDA MEMORANDUM

Item No.

9a

BRIEFING ITEM

Date of Meeting

February 25, 2020

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On December 10, 2019, the Port of Seattle Commission passed motion 2019-13 related to the

use of public-facing biometrics at Port facilities. That motion contained four key directions to

staff:

• Outlined seven (7) principles for public-facing biometrics at Port facilities: 1) Justified, 2)

Voluntary, 3) Private, 4) Equitable, 5) Transparent, 6) Lawful, and 7) Ethical;

• Directed staff (through an internal working group process) to translate those principles

into tangible, enforceable policy recommendations governing the use of public-facing

biometric technology at Port facilities by the end of Q1 2020, for Commission passage

by Q2 2020;

February 25, the working group have met four (4) times, and the external advisory group will

have met two (2) times. The next meeting of the working group will be February 28, and the

next meeting of the external advisory group will be on March 6. In addition, a Commission

Biometrics Special Committee has been established and charter approved, and a Biometric

External Advisory dedicated page has been added to the Port website

During the February 25 Commission meeting, Commissioners will receive an update on the

progress of the working group and external advisory group toward their March 31 deadline for

policy recommendations.

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Meeting Date: February 25, 2020

Template revised September 22, 2016.

unique features of an individual’s face or their fingerprint, while examples of behavioral

characteristics includes an individual’s voice, signature, or how they walk.

Due to technological advances, perceived customer benefits and federal requirements, there is

a significant increase in public-facing facial recognition technology deployment by public and

private sector users, including in airport and seaport settings. In fact, U.S. Customs and Border

members of the public and various advocacy organizations have expressed concerns about the

rapidly expanding use of facial recognition. These stakeholders have raised issues around

privacy, equity and civil liberties, as well as the potential for unregulated “mass surveillance.”

Public-facing biometrics are already used in various forms at the Port of Seattle’s aviation and

maritime facilities, such as 1) CLEAR, a private company providing an option to those customers

who want expedited screening at U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints

to voluntarily supply their biometric data in order to verify their identities, 2) CBP’s use of

biometrics at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to validate departing international

traveler identities, and 3) Norwegian Cruise Line use of biometrics on ship while docked at Pier

misuse and abuse of biometrics, while improving public understanding of the benefits and risks

of this technology in various applications. On December 10, 2019, after holding two study

sessions, conducting stakeholder outreach and doing multiple site visits, the Port Commission

adopted seven “biometrics guiding principles,” and directed staff to translate those principles

into tangible, enforceable policies. Specifically, the Port strives to balance operational needs,

business priorities and regulatory mandates with protections for the interests and rights of

passengers, employees and other visitors to our facilities.

Over the last three months, a working group of Port staff have collaborated with an external

advisory group of key stakeholders to accomplish that task. One of the key findings from this

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Meeting Date: February 25, 2020

Template revised September 22, 2016.

BIOMETRIC AIR EXIT DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS

The first set of recommendations created by the working group and initially vetted by the

external advisory group is specific to “biometric air exit,” which is the use of facial recognition

by CBP, the Port and/or airlines as part of CBP’s Traveler Verification Service (TVS) to validate

the identities of departing international airline passengers as they board the aircraft. Additional

recommendations for other use cases will be similarly provided.

Biometric Air Exit is primarily intended to realize CBP’s goal of determining whether foreign

nationals have overstayed their authorized periods of admission, as well as to confirm whether

the departing individual is truly the same person who entered the United States. Currently, this

process mainly uses passenger information provided by airline carriers, which is then matched

biometric entry-exit screening system for travelers to and from the United States is essential to

our national security.” Based on the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, Congress included

biometric entry/exit provisions in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of

2004. The fiscal year 2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act transferred

entry/exit policy and operations to CBP. In addition, the fiscal year 2016 Consolidated

Appropriations Act authorized funding for a biometric exit program of up to $1 billion to be

collected through fee surcharges over a period of 10 years. More recently, President Trump

included direction to expedite completion of this transition to biometric identification in section

7 of Executive Order 13769, which is known as the Muslim ban or travel ban: “The Secretary of

Homeland Security shall expedite the completion and implementation of a biometric entry-exit

international flights. These templates are based on images previously collected by CBP or other

federal agencies, such as passport or visa application photos. TVS allows CBP or one of its

authorized partners to deploy camera systems that capture an image of an individual and send

the image to CBP, along with the person’s flight information, for processing. CBP attempts to

match the image to its “gallery” of biometric templates for that particular flight and, if it

confirms a match, transmits a binary “match/no match” confirmation back to the partner.

It is important to note that airports and airlines are not currently mandated to participate in

CBP’s biometric air exit program. Of the two dozen airports and airlines that have partnered

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Meeting Date: February 25, 2020

Template revised September 22, 2016.

with CBP to implement biometric air exit, all of them have joined the program voluntarily

because they believe it improves customer facilitation and homeland security.

Authorized users of TVS are required by CBP to comply with a set of business requirements. For

example, each camera must be connected to the TVS via a secure, encrypted connection, and

each CBP's partner's IT system must allow CBP to audit compliance with these requirements.

The 36 recommendations (22 unique recommendations with discrete subsets) that have

resulted from the working group and external advisory group process are contained in the

attached draft Biometric Air Exit Policy Recommendations document. It is worth noting that the

final product will include a listing of concerns from some external advisors who do not support

some of these recommendations. All sides of the discussion will be represented to provide Port

Commissioners full information prior to adoption of any policies.

With regard to biometric air exit, the Port has broad authority to establish policies that govern

the activities of Port staff and the use of Port resources, to the extent such policies are

Where the Port lacks authority to mandate compliance with particular policies, the

recommendation is to work collaboratively with these stakeholders to achieve voluntary

compliance where appropriate, and/or highlight how these stakeholders’ own policies match

Port principles. The Port should also advocate for the adoption of new laws and regulations that

align with the Port’s biometric principles.

FUTURE BIOMETRIC USE CASE RECOMMENDATIONS

As mentioned above, it is the finding of the Port staff that the various use cases of biometrics

require separate policy recommendations because of key differences from one use case to

another, such as who manages the data, requirements imposed by state or federal law, and the

benefits and risks associated with each use. The first set of recommendations created by the

working group and initially vetted by the external advisory group is specific to “biometric air

exit,” which is the use of facial recognition by CBP, the Port and/or airlines as part of CBP’s

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Meeting Date: February 25, 2020

Template revised September 22, 2016.

Traveler Verification Service (TVS) to validate the identities of departing international airline

passengers as they board the aircraft.

As the Biometric Air Exit draft recommendations become finalized, staff plans to bring four

additional use case policy recommendations through the process:

1. Biometric Air and Cruise Entry – use of biometrics by CBP in CBP controlled areas to

purchasing

4. Biometrics for Law Enforcement and Security Activities – use of biometrics by Port

Police or tenants to identify individuals for law enforcement or security purposes

ATTACHMENTS TO THIS BRIEFING

(2) December 10 Commission Biometrics Principles Motion (Motion 2019-13)

(3) Draft Port Biometric Air Exit Policy Recommendations

PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS