Homeland security panel demands plan for visitor tracking project

The House Homeland Security Committee demanded this week that the Homeland Security Department describe what system and technology will be used to determine when foreigners leave the country or overstay their visits.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the lawmakers said they want a strategic plan by next Monday for the US-VISIT foreigner tracking system, including cost estimates and timelines for an exit component. The lawmakers said Congress has been waiting on the plan for almost two years, even though more than $1.3 billion has been spent on VISIT to date.

By law, the department is required to use biometric identifiers, such as digital fingerprints, to verify that foreigners leave the country. But building an exit component into VISIT has vexed the department since it was created four years ago.

According to a December Government Accountability Office report, Homeland Security Department officials have concluded that installing a biometric exit capability at land ports of entry would cause major disruptions and come with a huge price tag. In their letter, the lawmakers said they are worried the department might try to build an exit system into VISIT that does not use biometrics -- a move that would be contrary to the law.

The Homeland Security Committee also approved a bill last week that would prohibit the transfer of VISIT to the department's new national protection and programs directorate until the department submits the strategic plan.

A Homeland Security Department spokesman said the department has already submitted parts of the strategic plan to congressional appropriators, and will submit the rest "as soon as possible." He said the department is working to install an exit system at airports, adding that VISIT has already been transferred to the new directorate.

"We are committed to deploying US-VISIT capabilities in the air environment over the next 18 months or so," he said. "The solution would integrate US-VISIT exit with the airline check in process."

Industry officials believe the department could move forward with building an incremental exit system, especially at airports. "On air exit, I do believe that DHS and US-VISIT have to end two years of deliberation and choose a system to deploy," C. Stewart Verdery, president of Monument Policy Group, told the Senate Judiciary Homeland Security Subcommittee during a Jan. 31 hearing.

Verdery, a former Homeland Security assistant secretary, said a system to take fingerprints could be installed at airports checkpoints where screeners work. "You have a law enforcement presence there; you have information technology connectivity there; and also it's a natural funneling device to move people through a limited number of locations as opposed to putting it at the counter or at the gate," he said.

Phillip Bond, president of the Information Technology Association of America, also testified that the department could have a limited land exit system by attaching radio frequency identification tags to I-94 forms. The documents are given to travelers when they enter the United States and are supposed to be returned by travelers when they leave the country.

Bond and Verdery acknowledged that doing so would only tell the government when the I-94 form was returned, rather than verify the identity of a person leaving the country. But Bond said the government could also randomly pull people aside as they leave the country to verify their identity in order to add an extra layer of security.