NIST Team Briefs Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge on Biometrics Systems in Support of new U.S. VISIT Program
ITL’s Dr. Charles Wilson, accompanied by Dr. Bement, Dr.
Zevin, and Mr. Kevin Kimball, briefed Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Secretary Tom Ridge and his senior management team on technical considerations
of alternative fingerprint matching systems and impacts on implementation of
the new entry/exit (VISIT) system. NIST has produced a report on the
state-of-the-art accuracy of fingerprint systems jointly with the Departments
of Justice and State, and is now working with DHS to produce an operational
system. The mandate for the work comes directly from the USA PATRIOT Act of
2001; DHS wants to ensure that the system that is designed, procured, and
implemented is the most effective possible within the time constraints and
technology available. Secretary Ridge wanted NIST's assurances that such a
system could be built in a timely and cost effective way. The outcome of the
meeting was an agreed-upon engineering approach. The meeting took place on
Wednesday, June 18, 2003, at Secretary Ridge's headquarters.