Homeland Security & Defense

Biometrics companies see combined technologies for U.S. border control

June 25, 2003
By Paul Hoversten

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is recommending that member countries use some form of facial recognition as the primary means of identification for border control, but biometric companies expect the U.S. government will use additional technologies at the nation's land, sea and air ports of entry.

The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. VISIT (Visitor and Immigration Status Indication Technology) program is to be implemented at all U.S. airports and seaports by Dec. 31, using biometric identifiers such as photographs or fingerprints for non-immigrant visas.

ICAO's facial recognition recommendation calls for matching a photograph with the person using either a computer-based system or a visual comparison.

By October 2004, the program is expected to be operational at land border points as well. By 2005, U.S. VISIT should be in place at up to 400 points of entry.

U.S. VISIT, one of the most complex programs on the DHS drawing board, originally was planned to begin in October 2004 but the date was pushed up because border security has become a priority, according to the DHS.

The ICAO last month singled out facial recognition as "the globally interoperable biometric" for machine-readable travel documents, followed by fingerprints and iris-recognition technologies.

The 188-member United Nations picker ICAO to define biometric technology and recommend standards for secure travel documents used around the world. The United States said it would adopt ICAO standards for U.S. VISIT.

"The way ICAO phrased it, they recommended facial with finger or iris. They didn't rule anyone out," said Raj Nanavati, a partner at the International Biometric Group in New York City, which has advised the White House on biometrics for border control.

Biometric companies expect the DHS to issue a request for proposals (RFP) on the multi-phase program this fall, with an award due in May 2004. Congress has set aside $362 million for work on the program this year and the companies expect an additional $1 billion in 2004.

 "Only five companies will be encouraged to bid on it and [the DHS] will be looking for a single integrator to do the job," said Tom Larson, vice president for strategic development at biometrics giant SAGEM Morpho in Tacoma, Wash. The fingerprint ID company, a subsidiary of Paris-based Groupe SAGEM, has the world's biggest biometric fingerprint database.

U.S. VISIT's systems integrator, however, will need "a lot of subcontractors," and companies like SAGEM Morpho will all "have to settle in decide what teams we're on." The five contenders for the RFP are expected to be Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Computer Sciences Corp., AT&T and possibly EDS, Larson said.

"It's going to be a multi-biometric solution, there's no doubt about it," he said, noting that the National Institute of Standards and Technology has recommended fingerprints as the primary identifier, with facial recognition secondary.

Iridian Technologies of Moorestown, N.J., the only U.S. provider of iris recognition systems, is confident the technology eventually will be incorporated into U.S. VISIT, perhaps in the later phases of the program.

"We believe that perhaps fingerprint will be recommended for background checking...and iris recognition will be recommended for eventual use in inspection, where it can accurately out-perform all other biometrics," said Lina Page, Iridian's director of global marketing.