Full visitor tracking system to require more time, money

The Homeland Security Department plans to begin testing technology in the coming months to take all 10 fingerprints of foreigners traveling to the United States but does not expect to have systems in place at all ports of entry until 2008 or 2009, an official in charge of the effort said Wednesday.

The department will begin test programs in fiscal 2007 for capturing 10 fingerprints through the US VISIT immigrant tracking system, Robert Mocny, the program's acting director, told CongressDaily in an interview. Foreigners are now required to give only two fingerprints and a facial photograph to VISIT, which checks their biometric information against government watch lists of known or suspected terrorists.

Some critics have noted, however, that VISIT is not fully compatible with the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System database, which uses 10 fingerprints and a photograph to track criminals. Last summer, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that first-time visitors to the United States will be required to submit 10 fingerprints to VISIT, stressing the need for doing so.

"This enhanced use of US VISIT will dramatically improve our ability to detect and thwart terrorists trying to enter the United States, with no significant increase in inconvenience," Chertoff said.

Providing a timeline for the first time, Mocny said it will take until 2008 or 2009 to meet the new requirement. He added the schedule is dependent on funding and technology advancement.

"It's not cheap," he said. "It's not a $10 million event, [but] it's up there in the larger numbers." He declined to put a price tag on the effort. The Senate's version of the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill would give VISIT about $400 million, of which $60 million is reserved for migrating the system to capture 10 fingerprints.

The House version of the appropriations bill would give VISIT $362 million, but does not set aside funding specifically for converting the system. Mocny said the $60 million is needed to begin migrating the system to 10 fingerprints, adding that he hopes the issue will be resolved in conference between the two chambers.

He also said his office is currently working with the OMB to determine how much will be requested in the fiscal 2008 budget for the project, but declined to provide an estimate.

Another major factor for meeting the requirement is technology. Mocny said industry did not have viable technological solutions until only recently. He said his office began testing two devices earlier this month, and plans to start testing a third shortly. "It's not limited to those three, we'll test any device," he added.

While devices might work in a lab setting, the department will not know which ones are viable until they are tested at real ports of entry, Mocny said. He added that the testing will determine the department's acquisition strategy for buying and deploying devices.

"We have not come up with an acquisition strategy yet," he said. "Depending on how the tests go, that will inform how we move forward."