Former 9/11 Commission counsel and SIBA CEO urges Congress to follow the 16 other nations with fully implemented biometric borders to protect against terrorist cross-border traffic
WASHINGTON, May 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — The Secure Identity & Biometrics Association (SIBA), the leading non-profit association representing innovations that protect and secure identity across private and public platforms, today strongly encouraged Congress to pass biometric exit legislation to build integrity and counter criminal and terrorist cross-border traffic. Twelve years after 9/11, with three existing core statutes, the linchpin issue no longer should be whether a biometric exit is cost-effective and feasible. It is.
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According to former 9/11 Commission counsel and SIBA CEO Janice Kephart, "This key 9/11 Commission recommendation need wait no longer for full implementation at air and sea ports. The science is there, and proof is in the 16 nations that have fully implemented best-in-class biometrics that speed travel and virtually eliminate fraud, most of them in the past couple of years. Passage of a biometric exit bill – and full deployment by DHS– is both cost-effective and feasible now.
"DHS established technical feasibility back in 2009 when two air pilots, one in Detroit and the other in Atlanta, confirmed that biometrics not only work, but are support immigration integrity and security goals," added Kephart. "Also, technology innovations in the last five years have significantly reduced deployment costs of an integrated biometric exit system—making it even more affordable."
The study found in just one month of processing, only one in 30,000 travelers refused the biometric enrollment. Even then, the DHS databases were able to assure that people were who they said they were, and correlate their exit data to their identity. No one missed a flight. Biometrics in 2014 actually speed travelers, and are increasingly being used by airlines for fast, secure check-in.
SIBA's CEO Janice Kephart served as a lead witness before the House Judiciary Committee in November 2013 on the issue of cost and feasibility of Biometric Exit. Kephart's testimony before Congress shows that first-year implementation costs for all air and sea ports would range from $400 million to $600 million, even assuming cost overruns of 50 percent. These numbers are derived from the 2008 regulatory assessment conducted by DHS on this exact issue but are six times lower than other publicized estimates because of newer solutions that require no airport infrastructure changes or air carrier involvement.
More proof of viability are nations with fully implemented biometric borders. In 2011, Indonesia installed a biometric border solution at nine airports and one seaport. The first installation was done at Indonesia's largest airport in six months that handles 10 million international passengers annually; nearly as busy as largest US international airport, JFK, which handles 12 million annually. The system fuses real-time biometric matching with watch-list vetting all compiled into one person-centric file that eliminates fraud, fulfilling 9/11 Commission recommendations.
New Zealand just rolled out its second generation of biometric borders at its largest airport, Auckland International, where biometrics are the baseline for a 3-in-1 immigration processing, airline check-in and boarding pass. Mexico and Canada both use biometrics in their trusted traveler programs, and Argentina and Nigeria are implementing biometric borders now. And while the US sits on its hands at home, it is helping Ghana and the Philippines implement biometric borders now. The list goes on.
Biometric exit is not just feasible, it is necessary for both immigration integrity and security. The 2009 study found that of the 29,999 processed, there were 175 watchlist hits and 150 visa overstay hits, totaling a 1.10 percent hit rate. Three years later, Kephart's FBI sources verified that 98 percent listed on the federal government's sole Terrorist Watchlist are associated with international terrorism. At least 10-20,000 of these are foreign terrorists with US residency. The current name-based approach to exit does not verify that people are who they say they are, or negate human error. The FBI lost a critical lead in the April 2013 Boston Marathon bomber terrorist attack because the lead perpetrator's name, Tsarneav, was misspelled name on the outgoing airline manifest to Russia.
Contact:
Janice Kephart
703-581-7721