Specifically, one page. And yes, I would remove said paperclip to get to that page. Strictly speaking, it's not an absolute requirement - there are other things scattered throughout the passport that do the same thing (namely, authentication purposes)- but it's easier and faster the way that I do it. That's only for the two older US passports, remember; the new one, with all the pretty graphics on the biography page and such? Don't have to. The equivalent of what I look for on the older US passports is there on the biography page of the newer US passport.

Post-Script: Actually, after some thought on the matter, I take that back. If it's secured down with paperclips, then it would most likely take longer to pull them off, flip open the page I need, authenticate the passport, and then put them all back on. So, no, I probably would not take the paperclips off, since the whole reason I'd go to the passport interior anyway is because it's faster. :P

Most passports are different, too. India, Japan and Canada, for instance, I don't have to go any further than the biography page either. UK passports require a flip-up to the front cover's interior, but not back into the visa pages. Germany requires a flip to the very first visa page.

(By the way, to any overzealous persons from the TSA: Any of that is fully visible in view of the public, and, as such, is not considered SSI. The "what" is not the protected information, the "why" is, and I have not disclosed the "why," -- so there :P)

I'm not going to say what I'm specifically looking for. While I doubt it would be considered SSI, I don't know that for an absolute fact. I'm therefore going to be taking the path of caution. As it's been explained to me (not by TSA, by the way, but by actual State LEOs that handle the fake-ID stuff that did all the training for us here in HSV when we launched the TDC procedures), many of the security features on IDs work only because counterfeiters do not know what they are, so they cannot replicate them. While I do not think for an instant that they're SSI (since that classification of protected stuff exists solely in the aviation industry as defined by CFR 1520), they could be considered protected in some way, so I'm not going to get into the specifics.

Not all of them. Not even most of them. The easiest and fastest way that I have found to authenticate it is by flipping to that one page that I mentioned above. And, like I said, I don't care what the visas and stamps say. They're not what I'm looking for.

I do it because it's the easiest and fastest way to do what I have to do. :P

And as far as it being SOP... Look at it this way:

If your goal is to reach D, and you can go through A, B, or C to get there, then just because everybody else uses A, doesn't mean that the person using B or C is wrong. Some things require you to reach B and the only allowable path is A (such as, for example, hand-wanding someone; there is a required pattern to use, and a required order, with a required alarm-resolution procedure).

This, however, is not the case when it comes to the authentication of IDs. On my Alabama DL, for instance, there are at least four different ways to authenticate it that don't involve the UV light. The UV light, however, is the easiest and fastest way. That doesn't mean that anyone who authenticates it with one of the other four methods is doing something wrong.

Make sense?

And, it just so happens, that in this particular case I find B to be the easiest and fastest method to authenticate the older style US passports.

The first question of that I could probably answer, but then I'd have other TSOs breathing down my neck because they'd probably think of it as SSI, and I don't need any of that. We'll leave it with "authentication features," as studentff so neatly phrased it as.

As for the second one... "11 passengers were arrested due to .... or fraudulent travel documents"