Airlines and airports have provided kiosks to tag and process checked baggage, digital boarding passes created on your computer or phone, global entry, remote visas, fingerprint and retinal readers, 3D X-rays of baggage. Why can’t you go from the curb to your seat on the plane without any human interaction from the airline or security unless there’s a problem? In other words, you intervene by exception only, not by every single person. We don’t need TSA people looking into screens—where they sometimes miss things anyway. We don’t need gate agents processing tickets one-by-one—where people still seem to be able to sneak by and stowaway!

We could speed things up three times as much, actually increase efficiency and security, if we embraced technology and didn’t see it as simply a help for human weakness. Of course, I’ve always also wanted to ask a TSA agent, “Do the two of us really look like terrorists?” But that requires judgment.

If we can create CLEAR and pre-check, we can create a mechanism for circumventing security altogether if you’re deemed “safe” and to through electronic checks without human intervention. The Wright Brothers boarded their planes more quickly than we do today.