No I am not going to apologize for that cheap pun.
Currently all passengers must wear masks both on airplanes and in airports. Positively identifying every passenger is at the heart of aviation security. Without effective positive identification it is fairly easy for a person to steal and use the identity of a someone else to board a plane. This way a person with a concerning or criminal background faces fewer obstacles to overcome. Every gap in this layer of security broadens the number of people who might try to pass airport security for nefarious purposes. Masks present a small chink in the positive identification armor.
Currently, the only place a person must remove their mask for identification is the entry to security. While this single identity checkpoint has always been the norm, a single, tired, agent on a busy day might make a mistake or not examine a face closely enough. A person wearing a mask at an airport used to attract a bit more scrutiny from employees, now that it is the norm, this small indicator is now gone.
Not requiring masks (or requiring clear masks, gross) is the most obvious solution to this problem. However, this is unlikely to happen any time soon. But even without masks there is still the problem that positive identification is only done at one point by one person. Boarding the airplane must be a second point of identification. When dealing with any sort of checks or security relying on a human factor, two person integrity is necessary.
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(2017, July). Retrieved December 29, 2020, from
https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/files/2017_ga_security_guidelines.pdf
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