People enrolled in the Registered Traveler program have yet to benefit from any security checkpoint exemptions despite giving private service providers images of their fingerprints and irises as well as undergoing a background check, according to witnesses at a House subcommittee meeting.

Travelers enroll in the program by submitting biographic and biometric information that is verified by the Transportation Security Administration. The program is designed to help approved travelers proceed quickly through certain airport checkpoints.

“Registered Traveler members get nothing in the way of an amended security process in return for the security threat assessment, biometric verification and thousands of man hours, audit pages and dollars of security hoops that we jump through,” Steven Brill, CEO of Verified Identity Pass Inc. said in a written statement before the House Homeland Security Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee. “Our members now enjoy an expedited process only because of the concierges we use at our lanes to help them place their necessary items into the bins and then retrieve them after the screening is completed.” Verified Identity Pass is a Registered Traveler service provider.

However, roughly three years after the first Registered Traveler pilot launched, enrollees still have to remove their coats and shoes, take laptop computers out of carrying bags and show a government-issued ID at checkpoints because technologies have not advanced far enough to sufficiently screen for related dangers, TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said at the Tuesday hearing.

Furthermore, registered travelers are only checked against watch lists without conducting criminal history checks, he added. “A security risk introduced with Registered Traveler becomes a risk for every passenger, because what we make easier for one, becomes easier for many,” Hawley said. “After prioritizing our security initiatives based on risk, TSA decided that taxpayer resources are best applied to more critical needs than Registered Traveler.”

Higher-priority examples listed by Hawley include: explosives detection efforts; better worker retention; behavior detection training; document checking training and federal air marshal missions.

However, members of the subcommittee expressed eagerness to get the public-private program running smoothly to contribute to both security and efficiency in airports.

“The Registered Traveler program is a way for TSA to narrow its pool of potential problems, even if it is not popular, because it will separate a small percentage of people from the large stream of travelers and give TSA an advantage in screening,” said Chairwoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas. “However the Registered Traveler program will be of limited value to participants if they have to stand in the same lines as non-participants or go through more security then those who are not enrolled in the program.”

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee, sat in on the hearing and had even harsher words for Hawley.

“I have real doubts that you are being fair to the security needs of our country, to the public and to the innovators,” Norton said. “I am most afraid of the [terrorists] who can get through your security lanes.”

Registered Traveler service providers are required by TSA to adhere to “hyper-secure specifications” for card encryption and data transmission and have two security-screened attendants complete each enrollment, according to Brill. Registered Traveler service providers also do better background screening for program enrollees than is done for airport and freight train employees as well as Transportation Worker Identification Card holders, he added.

Brill said in his statement that the 53,000 registered travelers his company has enrolled “love the program” and that Verified Identity Pass could have as many as 4 million registered travelers in three years if trends continue.

A recent survey put out by the Business Travel Coalition strongly supported Brill’s assertions about growth potential. The survey of “travel industry professionals and individual business travelers” conducted between July 16-19 found 82 percent of those surveyed would like their preferred airlines to embrace the program and that 80 percent would pay the required fee for a membership card that includes biometric and biographical information. In addition, 38 percent of survey respondents said they would pay $199 for a premier card that would have benefits beyond shortened security lines, such as reserved parking at a traveler’s home airport, remote baggage check-ins at hotels and airport concession discounts. The current Registered Traveler program costs enrollees roughly $100.

“Travelers are indicating that not having to remove shoes or laptops would be a convenience,” Fast Lane Options CEO Glenn Argenbright said in a July 31 press release. “However, what is truly important to them is expeditious security lane processing that is predictable and consistent from airport to airport such that a business executive would not have to leave a customer’s office 45 minutes early because of not knowing what to expect at an airport on any given day.”

Hawley told the subcommittee he will welcome a speedier and more efficient Registered Traveler program as soon as related technologies are developed to meet TSA standards.

TSA sent requirements to GE Security in July for a long-awaited kiosk that is designed to detect explosives and metals in shoes without needing them to be removed. The kiosk is also designed to pick up traces of explosive materials.

Eileen Sullivan contributed to this story.

Matthew M. Johnson can be reached at mjohnson@cq.com.