GE interested in Registered Traveler, invests in Verified Identity

We have written about GE’s “puffer” airport security device — and GE is not stopping there. It is now getting involved with the Registered Traveler program (we have reported yesterday that the airlines want DHS to scrap the program). GE Invision, a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Security’s Homeland Protection business (NYSE: GE), said it was making a minority strategic investment of up to $16 million in New York-based Verified Identity Pass. Verified ID’s Clear service is the nation’s leading, and currently the only operational, Registered Traveler program. GE plans to bring its research and development capability, experience in airline luggage and passenger screening, and advanced explosives detection technology to enhance the effectiveness of passenger checkpoint security while containing, and eventually driving down, the cost of providing improved security. GE will also provide its Lean Six Sigma process improvement capabilities to Verified ID’s Clear lanes, making screening more efficient and convenient. Louis Parker, president and CEO of GE Security, says: “We see Registered Traveler as a major new opportunity for an industry that we intend to lead, and we think this investment — in the entrepreneurial company that has created the first and only working private sector program — will allow GE to help bring practical real-world security solutions to the aviation checkpoint.”

The Clear service at Orlando International Airport, which now has more than 15,000 members, is the only Registered Traveler program operating in the United States. Verified Identity was founded by Steve Brill of “Court TV” fame.

GE’s aviation security products include the EntryScan (aka puffer machine), Itemiser FX, ShoeScanner, and the SafeView Scout millimeter wave portal.

-read more about GE aviation security products at company Web site; and see more information about the Clear service at Verified ID Web site