Panel calls for more emphasis on tracking departing visitors
House committee urges more attention — and funds — to using biometric technologies to track not only those who enter the U.S., but also those who leave
Here is more good news for the biometric industry: Congress wants DHS to use biometric technology to track not only people who come into the United States, but also people who leave the country. A House panel has just issued a report, with the catchy title “America’s Unfinished Welcome Mat,” saying that while the U.S. government’s focus since 9/11 has been on tracking people coming into the United States, little attention has been paid to tracking those who leaves
To help track the movements of suspected terrorists, DHS has said that by the end of 2008, it will have a system in place which would require foreign travelers to provide biometrics — a fingerprint (perhaps even ten-digit prints) and digital photo — when exiting the country. The House Homeland Security Committee, however, is skeptical DHS can meet even its June 2008 deadline to release final specifications for the system.
As we reported last week, DHS plans to expand the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology system now used for incoming travelers to the airline check-in proces. DHS uses the technology at 116 airports, 15 seaports, and 154 land ports. In fiscal 2006, 30.7 million travelers went through the US-VISIT biometric entry process.
In testmony before the House panel last week, Robert Mocny, director US-VISIT Program, and Robert Jacksta, executive director of Traveler Security and Facilitation Office of Field Operations U.S. Customs and Border Protection, agreed that biometrically tracking people who leave the United States would be agood idea.
