New US fingerprint system for international visitors expands
Punit Pawar, a citizen of India, is used to going through security screening when he flies into Boston's Logan International Airport, so he barely noticed when he was asked to put all 10 of his fingers on a digital scanner as part of an enhanced s...
By Agencies |
BOSTON: Punit Pawar, a citizen of India, is used to going through security screening when he flies into Boston's Logan International Airport, so he barely noticed when he was asked to put all 10 of his fingers on a digital scanner as part of an enhanced security system being introduced at airports across the United States.
``It didn't take much of my time, so it didn't bother me,'' Pawar, a university student, said Tuesday. ``I'm OK with it, if this is what they need to do for security.''
Since 2004, international travelers have been required to let airport personnel scan their two index fingers at U.S. airports as part of a program called US-VISIT. But now, foreign travelers will be asked to scan all 10 fingers, an enhancement the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hopes will help officials more closely monitor watch lists of suspected terrorists, criminals and immigration violators.
Logan, where two of the passenger planes involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks took off, became the third airport to use 10-finger scanners last week. Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., began using the devices in November, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport _ the busiest in the U.S. _ began using the new system earlier this month.
Seven other airports are scheduled to start using the system by the end of February, including Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport; Miami International Airport; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Orlando International Airport; and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
By the end of the year, the devices are expected to be up and running in all of the United States' international airports, as well as seaports and border points.
Robert Mocny, director of the US-VISIT program, said the new device scans fingerprints from travelers and within seconds matches them against more than 3.2 million fingerprints of people in FBI and Department of Defense databases. Mocny said going from two fingerprints to 10 improves matching accuracy and reduces the number of false matches.
Steven Farquharson, director of field operations for the Boston office of Homeland Security, said if a traveler's prints match those in a database, the traveler will be taken to a separate area of the airport and questioned.
About 2,000 international passengers a day will be scanned at Logan.
``It didn't take much of my time, so it didn't bother me,'' Pawar, a university student, said Tuesday. ``I'm OK with it, if this is what they need to do for security.''
Since 2004, international travelers have been required to let airport personnel scan their two index fingers at U.S. airports as part of a program called US-VISIT. But now, foreign travelers will be asked to scan all 10 fingers, an enhancement the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hopes will help officials more closely monitor watch lists of suspected terrorists, criminals and immigration violators.
Logan, where two of the passenger planes involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks took off, became the third airport to use 10-finger scanners last week. Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., began using the devices in November, while Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport _ the busiest in the U.S. _ began using the new system earlier this month.
Seven other airports are scheduled to start using the system by the end of February, including Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; George Bush Houston Intercontinental Airport; Miami International Airport; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Orlando International Airport; and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
By the end of the year, the devices are expected to be up and running in all of the United States' international airports, as well as seaports and border points.
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Robert Mocny, director of the US-VISIT program, said the new device scans fingerprints from travelers and within seconds matches them against more than 3.2 million fingerprints of people in FBI and Department of Defense databases. Mocny said going from two fingerprints to 10 improves matching accuracy and reduces the number of false matches.
Steven Farquharson, director of field operations for the Boston office of Homeland Security, said if a traveler's prints match those in a database, the traveler will be taken to a separate area of the airport and questioned.
About 2,000 international passengers a day will be scanned at Logan.
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