Clear Secure

Origin and founders

Steven Brill and Ajay Amlani were the original owners of Clear, a subsidiary of Verified Identity Pass, founded in 2003. Ajay Amlani left the company in 2006 to pursue another identity technology company named YOU Technology. Steven Brill stepped away from the company in 2008. Clear shut down in 2009 after filing for bankruptcy.

2010s

Caryn Seidman-Becker purchased CLEAR out of bankruptcy in 2010 with her partner and co-founder Ken Cornick. They relaunched the company in 2012. Clear operates out of its headquarters in Manhattan, New York.

2020s

In 2021, Clear went public as Clear Secure, Inc. on the NYSE with the ticker symbol 'YOU'.

In 2022, Clear's verification service allowed an airline passenger using a false identity to pass through its system; the passenger was also found by the TSA to be carrying ammunition. The company noted in a formal statement that it was due to "a single human error". The program's facial-recognition system for enrolling new customers was also noted as sometimes relying on inadequate photos such as the chin or shoulder.

Two further security incidents occurred in 2023, where individuals not enrolled in the company's security program were escorted through a TSA security checkpoint without having presented their identification. One of the incidents involved a passenger who had used a boarding pass that was picked out of a trash bin.

In November 2024, Clear debuted new EnVe Pods that it claims will reduce the time it takes to verify travelers; no fingerprint or eye scan will be required. Instead, the pods will use high-resolution, wide-angle cameras to identify users. According to Clear, the process will be five times faster than the current system.

Security incidents

Clear's security incidents have gathered the attention of the House Homeland Security Committee, with members Bennie Thompson and John Katko in December 2022 requesting that the TSA require all passengers, including those using Clear, have their ID verified by TSA. In August 2023 TSA advised the company and participating airports to increase the number of IDs to be checked by a TSA officer.

Ethical criticism

Clear has been criticized for enabling wealthier flyers who can afford its service to bypass airport security lines. David Zipper, writing for Slate, argued that "the entirety of Clear's offer to American flyers [is,] pay us money and give us your biometric data, and in return you can jump in front of other people to access an essential federal service." He contrasted its program with TSA's PreCheck, which provides some value to all flyers by speeding up the overall security process. He also criticized the commissions paid to airports, which, he argued, create a perverse incentive for them to make the security process for non-Clear customers worse.

Some lawmakers have proposed legislation curtailing the company's practices. North Carolina U.S. Representative Wiley Nickel told Slate, "Airport security is an essential government function, funded by taxpayers. We should level the field to let everyone travel as quickly as possible, regardless of whether you have the extra money to push to the front of the line." A 2024 bill authored by California State Senator Josh Newman would prevent Clear from bypassing lines in the state's airports.