Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport just joined a growing list of U.S. ports of entry using Enhanced Passenger Processing (EPP)—CBP’s camera-based, pre-primary screening that confirms identity before a traveler meets an officer. Early results are exactly what airports and airlines want to see: shorter lines, fewer manual checks, and officers reallocated to where they matter most.
That playbook—automate the repeatable, focus humans on the exceptional—is the same one we designed Kairos for. If you’re rethinking high-volume identity flows (airports, stadiums, campuses, government service centers, border crossings, or seaports), EPP is a timely case study in what “good” looks like—and how to get there without compromising security or privacy.
What EPP is (and why it works)
EPP captures a live facial image in the pre-primary queue and compares it to a secure gallery (e.g., passport photos) to make a preliminary admissibility decision before a traveler reaches an officer. In practice, that means:
- Faster throughput: eligibility and enforcement checks are pre-computed, so officers can wave through the low-risk majority and spend time on edge cases.
- Lower friction: fewer document handoffs and fewer manual keystrokes.
- Maintained choice: travelers who prefer not to use facial comparison can opt out and take the standard path.
The biggest lesson for any high-volume identity workflow: front-load the compute and shrink the checkpoint. That’s EPP’s real innovation.
Where Kairos plugs into an EPP-style model
EPP’s success depends on three capabilities Kairos was built to deliver:
- Accurate, fast face matching in the wild
Camera angle, lighting, masks, hats—real-world conditions are messy. Kairos’s models are tuned for live, uncontrolled environments and return matches with production-grade latency. That’s the difference between a “demo” and a dependable lane. - Pre-adjudication and policy orchestration
EPP isn’t just a match; it’s “match + rules + risk.” Kairos lets you compose checks (biographic, watchlist, eligibility rules, travel-history flags) around the biometric event so your frontline sees a single decision instead of many screens. - Privacy-by-design controls
Modern programs must be opt-in/opt-out capable, minimize data retention, and provide auditability. Kairos ships with configurable data retention windows, on-prem or VPC deployment, field-level encryption, and full audit trails so operators can align with strict privacy impact assessments and local law.
Airport lessons you can copy into other venues
- Queue segmentation beats bigger checkpoints. Move verification upstream and let the bottleneck dissolve. Stadiums can do photo-on-approach at turnstiles; government offices can pre-screen in appointment flows.
- Automate the green lights, spotlight the red flags. Use biometrics to clear the 95% and free staff to investigate the 5% that actually need human judgment.
- Design for choice, document for trust. Clear signage, opt-outs, and short retention windows increase adoption and reduce program risk.
Example use cases that map 1:1 to EPP
- Cruise & ferry terminals: pre-boarding identity plus sanctions checks to compress embarkation windows.
- Stadiums & large venues: season-ticket photo verification at entry to cut scanning time and fraud.
- Higher ed & corporate campuses: visitor/contractor flows with pre-enrolled photos to speed lobby throughput.
- Government service centers: pre-appointment selfie-to-ID verification to prevent walk-up impersonation and reduce no-show churn.
Why teams choose Kairos for EPP-style rollouts
- Drop-in integration: REST APIs that are quick for developers to integrate.
- Deployment freedom: on-prem, GovCloud/VPC, or hybrid—so sensitive galleries don’t leave your boundary.
- Compliance ready: configurable retention, consent tracing, differential access controls, and comprehensive audit logs.
Want to explore an EPP-style pilot at your port, venue, or agency? We’ll help you model throughput gains, privacy posture, and total cost before you write a line of code. Contact Kairos Sales and we’ll share reference architectures, sample policies, and a sandbox you can test this week.
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