Secondary Security Screening Selection

Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its acronym SSSS, is an airport security measure in the United States which selects passengers for additional inspection.[1] The passengers may be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list.[1] The list contains 14,000 names, as of December 2009.[2]

Boarding pass of passenger selected for secondary security screening.

The Selectee list has been cited by civil liberties group to be infringing on privacy rights and potential for racial and ethnic discrimination.[3]

Procedure when selected

Passengers who have been selected for this secondary screening cannot print out boarding passes at home nor check in curbside or at kiosks. They must check-in at counters where additional verification is performed by airline staff.[4] The passengers will have the letters SSSS or *S* (all capitals) printed on their boarding passes as a signal for the need for a thorough search at checkpoints.[5]

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.[1]

Selection criteria

Neither the TSA nor the airlines publish the criteria that are used when boarding passes are issued to identify passengers who will be given extra screening or be denied boarding.

Some criteria are:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has insisted no minors are listed on the No Fly List or the Selectee List, however minors with similar names to those on the lists had faced difficulty in obtaining boarding passes and had been subjected to additional screening.[4]

See also

References

External links