US-VISIT to drop exit monitoring program

Another set back for America’s border control efforts, and a major blow to one of DHS’s major projects. After a General Accountablility Office report excoriated the US-VISIT program for technological and management failings, DHS has decided to abandon, at least temporarily, the element of the project that is intended to keep track of foreign visitors who leave the country. Although Congress has mandated such a system since 1996, and since 2003 has allocated $1.7 billion for it, GAO reported that the technology required to manage the outflow could take five to ten years to mature. Using existing technology, officials said, would require a massive infrastructure effort that would likely disrupt commerce across the northern and southern borders. Said Stewart Baker, assistant secretary for homeland security policy:

“It is a pretty daunting set of costs, both for the U.S. government and the economy. Congress has said, ‘We want you to do it.’ We are not going to ignore what Congress has said. But the costs here are daunting. There are a lot of good ideas and things that would make the country safer. But when you have to sit down and compare all the good ideas people have developed against each other, with a limited budget, you have to make choices that are much harder.”

Bermuda-based Accenture is the prime contractor for US-VISIT, with Raytheon, SRA International, and Titan (part of L3 Communications Holdings) handling the subcontracting efforts. Shares of Accenture added 28 cents to $34.99 in afternoon trading yesterday, while Raytheon rose 17 cents to $52.42, SRA International dipped 15 cents at $27.30, and L3 Communications rose $1.91, or 2.3 percent, to $83.94.

-read more in Rachel Swarns and Eric Lipton’s New York Times report