TSA Fingerprinting – Do you have to worry about providing your fingerprints?

Singapore_Airlines_Airbus_A380_at_Sydney_Airport_room_addedThe Transportation Security Administration has created a new Pre-Check program that any American citizen can apply for. This program allows for expedited airport screening such as that found at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, and the application requires only your biographical information, finger prints, and an $85 fee. But what happens to your fingerprints in this process?
First, a company called MorphoTrust USA collects the information in a secure manner and sends it to the FBI, which then runs a background check on the fingerprints. The FBI compares the prints to those in its database, which include prints of 76 million people, taken at the time of arrest or conviction. If an individual is applying for the Pre-Check program and his or her fingerprints match up to a set of prints in the FBI’s database, then the applicant is denied from the Pre-Check program.

After this screenin
g process, the FBI will not keep the prints, as it is not legally authorized to do so. It will either send the fingerprints back or destroy them. MorphoTrust also does not keep any prints. Therefore, you can rest assured that if you apply for the Pre-Check program you will not have to worry about the security and privacy of your biometrics information.