IAH uses system to recognize faces

Customs and Border Protection on Tuesday began using facial recognition technology to confirm the identity of some passengers at Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The technology is being used on one daily flight departing the U.S. for Tokyo, according to a news release.

The system takes a photo of each boarding passenger and compares that photo to one from travel documents provided to the airline. Photos of U.S. citizens are erased after a short time, the agency said.

More airports will install it this summer, the agency said.

Similarly, Delta Air Lines and Jet Blue Airways recently announced collaborations with CBP to integrate facial recognition technology as part of the boarding process.

The Department of Homeland Security is required to record the arrival and departure of nonU.S. citizens by collecting biometric information. Customs and Border Protection first established biometric screening procedures using digital fingerprints for some non-U.S. citizens in 2004 to confirm the identity of foreign travelers entering the U.S.