TSA's Face Scan Is Optional. The Federal Government's Own Watchdog Found You're Rarely Told That.

TSA's face-scanning checkpoints are legally optional for domestic travelers — but a federal oversight board's own May 2025 report found the agency doesn't clearly tell you that, and TSA's own accuracy testing found a real gap in match rates for Black travelers. For international travel, CBP keeps non-citizens' face data for up to 75 years. It deletes U.S. citizens' photos in 12 hours. Congress has been trying to pause the program since 2023 and hasn't.