TSA Expands Digital ID Use, Eyes E-Gates for Automated Passenger Flow

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is expanding the use of digital IDs and mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs), a move that is speeding up checkpoints, enhancing security and laying the groundwork for fully automated passenger flow, TSA Capability Manager for Identity Management Jason Lim said Wednesday at the 2025 Identity Week conference in Washington, D.C.

As of May 7, 2025, 20 states have received waivers for their mDLs, allowing their residents to use mDLs at participating airports and federal agencies, and travelers can use their mDL at more than 250 TSA checkpoints. mDLs have helped TSA agents check passenger credentials with more accuracy and increased speed through biometric verification.

The TSA identification process with physical IDs takes 20 seconds, and touchless security solutions have reduced the time to 6.83 seconds, according to Lim. mDLs also strengthen security through encryption and by limiting how much passenger data is stored in TSA systems.

“Digital IDs allow us to [revolutionize TSA operations] because trust can be accessed at any point of the identity management value chain,” said Lim. “Instead of accessing that trust through a digital credential at the TSA checkpoints — we’ll still do that — but we can also access trust upstream so when you release that information with your consent, then we can enable a touchless ID verification.”

Lim said the agency has spent the past decade working to automate the airport security process. So far, TSA has succeeded in automating many data-related functions through Credential Authentication Technology 2 (CAT-2), which can automatically verify IDs, match faces, confirm flight details and check vetting status.

Next, the agency plans to automate passenger flow through e-gates. Lim said that e-gates, coupled with TSA’s use of mDLs could increase operational efficiency exponentially.

“It’s topless from an efficiency perspective. It’s a lot faster. If we marry that [process] to an e-gate solution, it just presents a whole kind of advancement in terms of throughput, operational efficiency and seamless travel,” said Lim.