Secondary Security Screening Selection
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its acronym SSSS, is an airport security measure in the United States which randomly selects passengers for additional inspection. This may also be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list.
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[edit] How does it work?
The system works by selecting passengers who meet certain criteria at the time their boarding pass is issued. According to sources, the following are some of the points observed to assign a passenger with SSSS:[citation needed]
There are some criteria that will always create a selectee, such as a one-way reservation, made within twenty-four hours. Some other criteria that sometimes generate a SSSS are:
- Passengers traveling alone.
- 2 passengers.
- Passengers who change their flight at the last minute.
- Passengers traveling together who share certain characteristics such as a last names.
- Passengers traveling as a group.
- Tickets bought at the airport.
- Passengers who used the kiosks.
- Passengers who carry no luggage.
- Passengers who pay cash for their tickets.
- Passengers whose identification is invalid.
- Random selection in its entirety.
Since neither the TSA nor the airline run a background check at the time boarding passes are issued, immigration status, or criminal are not taken into consideration to be assigned as a SSSS. Personal information is not taken into account either; so addresses, employment history, medical records, DMV, and any other collection of personal information is not taken into consideration nor cross-examed for assignment and in actuality may not be readably available to government officials to amplified the scrutiny of the process. This is why the process is considered as random rather than objective.[citation needed]
[edit] Procedure when selected
Passengers that have been selected for this secondary screening will have the letters SSSS or *S* (all capitals) printed on their boarding passes. SSSS passengers will go through a more intensive screening process which may include puffer explosive detectors. Their carry on luggage, may be also be inspected by hand. In the case of film or other items that cannot be X-rayed, the agent may perform a test for possible explosive materials. The screener may also use a hand held metal detector to search the passenger for metal objects.
[edit] Randomness
Since the process acts on the accumulation of certain criteria rather than mathematical probability, it is expected that subjects may be elected more than once or more often then others. This has cause the public to believe the process is not random but instead discriminatory. In reality, it is a selective process in which candidates who fall under a pre-determined category are chosen. Nonetheless, the process may rely, intermittently, in randomness, when subjects do not fall under any category and this becomes the mathematical variable.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
- No-fly list
- Positive Passenger Bag Matching
