Hoover's - Coast Guard Looks to Expand At Sea Biometrics Pilot
Coast Guard Looks to Expand At Sea Biometrics Pilot
09/19/2007 05:11:13 PM EDT
Terror Response Technology Report
BALTIMORE--A trial begun last year by the Coast Guard that features the
use of fingerprint collection and database search during alien migrant
interdiction operations in the Mona Passage has proven to be successful and the
service is mulling its options in terms of expanding its areas and missions for
the use of biometrics, Coast Guard and industry officials said last week.
The officials wouldn't say what the new mission sets or Areas of
Responsibility would be for widening the use of biometrics but said the expanded
program would begin early next year.
The Coast Guard's Biometric Identification At Sea Pilot Project has been
going on since last November. Coast Guard cutter's and surveillance aircraft
operating in the Mona Passage--a treacherous 80 mile strait of water between the
Dominican Republic and the United States territory of Puerto Rico--patrol for
Dominicans illegally attempting to enter Puerto Rico.
For the pilot program, typically a single cutter is equipped with the
Integrated Biometric Identification System supplied by L-1 Identity Solutions
[ID]. The cutter has two IBIS units, each of which is used to collect images of
a migrant's two index fingers and face. The collected fingerprint images are
then searched via a satellite link against the Department of Homeland Security's
U.S. VISIT fingerprint database, called IDENT. If no match is found, the new
prints are enrolled in the database.
If a match is found, that begins a decisionmaking process between Coast
Guard officials on shore and other government agencies such as the U.S.
Attorney's office and Border Patrol about whether some of the migrants should
face prosecution or be repatriated, Christina O'Laughlin, a security analyst
with SAIC [SAI], which is supporting the Coast Guard project, said earlier this
week at the Biometrics Consortium Conference.
Before the project began last year the Coast Guard first did an
aggressive public affairs and diplomacy campaign regarding the pending
biometrics program in the Dominican Republic to deter its citizens from
attempting to cross the Mona Passage for Puerto Rico, Lt. Mario Teixeira of the
Coast Guard's Research and Development Center, said at the conference.
"Without deliberate consequences there was no deterrent to migrant flow,"
Teixeira said. The threat, and reality, of being able to prosecute illegal
aliens serves as a deterrent, he added.
Prior to the start of the biometrics pilot, the Coast Guard had no way to
determine the identity of illegal migrants it interdicted at sea and thus no way
to determine who might be repeat offenders or who might have existing criminal
histories in the U.S. However, since the program's inception, it has proven its
worth, the O'Laughlin and Teixeira said.
In FY '06 just a few illegal migrants interdicted in the Mona Passage
were prosecuted by the U.S. However, as of Aug. 3, 69 migrants who were captured
and interrogated using biometrics have been prosecuted in FY '07, according to
briefing charts used by O'Laughlin. None of these are terrorists but some are
prior felons, she said.
As of the early August the Coast Guard has collected over 1,000 biometric
records of Dominicans caught while transiting the Mona Passage. Of patrols that
have resulted in interdictions, over 80 percent have registered a hit when
comparing collected biometrics against IDENT, O'Laughlin said.
A telling statistic of the possible impact the biometrics program is
having on migration across the Mona Passage is a 40 percent reduction in migrant
flow, although other factors could be at play here as well. Still, the success
of the program has led to several high level briefings, including Coast Guard
Commandant Adm. Thad Allen, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and
even President Bush.
Going forward the Coast Guard plans to use biometric collection devices
from two more companies as it seeks better capability in the maritime
environment, Dr. Tom Amerson, the Coast Guard's lead on the project, tells TR2.
The service plans to retain the IBIS devices but also will use devices supplied
by Datastrip Inc., which is the U.S. division of Britain's Data Ltd., and MaxID.
Amerson said that some of the enhanced performance features the Coast
Guard wants for its at-sea biometrics trials include longer battery life and
more suitability for the marine environment.
Hoover's - Coast Guard Looks to Expand At Sea Biometrics Pilot
