The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ongoing rollout of an upgrade from two to 10-fingerprint collection for foreigners arriving at U.S. airports as part of the U.S. VISIT program is proceeding well, according to the program manager for the industry team leading the effort.
The upgrade is being done first on a pilot basis at 10 airports, with plans to roll out at remaining airports, seaports and land ports of entry this year. So far, DHS has implemented the 10-print collection at eight of the airports with two more expected to be completed shortly. The initial rollout is limited at the pilot airports to gather enough data to credibly test the technology and processes and at the same time ensure that if problems arise, huge bottlenecks wouldn’t be created for arriving foreigners.
Once various lessons are learned, then all foreign visitors arriving in the United States will have 10 fingerprints collected and then searched against a database to ensure that each person arriving is the same person that received a visa from the State Department overseas.
“What we’ve really been paying attention to is two things,” Jim Stolarski, who heads the Accenture [ACN]-led team developing and deploying U.S. VISIT for DHS, told sister publication TR2 in a recent interview. “Is the process of having to do the four fingers twice and the two thumbs really taking a lot more time, and the answer is no it’s not taking a lot more. It’s in seconds and not minutes. Is the processing time behind the scenes to do the matching taking a lot more time and there, too, the answer is no, it’s actually taking about the same amount and in some cases less based on some of the rearchitecting that was done in the back.”
In migrating from two to 10-fingerprint collection, DHS is using livescan fingerprint capture devices provided by Cross Match Technologies and L-1 Identity Solutions [ID]. For those foreign travelers arriving at a pilot airport now that are directed to the 10-print lanes, Customs and Border Protection officers use the livescan devices in a three-step process capturing four fingerprints at once per hand and then two thumbprints simultaneously.
Using 10 fingerprints instead of two for match searching increases the quality of the matching process and makes it less likely incorrect, and even multiple, matches will occur. The upgrade also improves interoperability with the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Once the pilot phase ends, DHS is expected to select a single biometric supplier, Cross Match or L-1, to provide livescan devices for the remaining ports of entry.