James A. Williams

ames Williams has worked on complex multibillion-dollar modernization projects at both the Internal Revenue Service and the General Services Administration. So his current challenge, updating the entry-and-exit system at U.S. borders, should be a snap.

Well, not quite. "It's thrilling and exhausting," says Williams, director of the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program at the Homeland Security Department.

US VISIT is an ambitious identification system to be established at all airports, seaports, and land-border crossings. It will collect biometric identifiers-two fingerprints and a digital photograph-to help keep track of the entry, visa status, and exit of certain foreigners visiting the United States The aim is to collect the information without, as critics fear, unduly slowing travel. The program applies to those travelers who require a visa to enter the country-about 28 million people annually. The contract for building the system could be worth as much as $10 billion.

US VISIT is expected to be in place by the end of 2005 at all ports of entry, but with only the ability to collect minimal amounts of information. The goal, Williams says, is to have the entire system completely up and running within the next five to 10 years.

"Jim's really a master at keeping an organization on track toward a specific goal," says C. Stewart Verdery Jr., an assistant secretary in the Border and Transportation Security Directorate.

Williams says he meets regularly with those likely to be affected by the new system, not just nationally but internationally. "I have to keep assuring them that it is a good thing, and it will work," he says. The European Union is planning to initiate a similar system in the near future, and is keeping a close eye on US VISIT's progress.

Before his current assignment, Williams, 49, was IRS deputy associate commissioner for program management, overseeing modernization application projects and ensuring effective program management.

The IRS system has been criticized by, among others, Congress and the General Accounting Office as ineffective and vastly over budget. Williams agrees that some IRS projects went over budget, "but there were also six projects successfully deployed before I left at the end of April 2003, such as Internet Refund Fact of Filing and Customer Communications 2001, which have provided tremendous benefits."

Williams's IRS experience prepared him for US VISIT. "Both involve lots of oversight, expenditure plans with Congress, and transforming the way organizations accomplish their missions," he says. Williams also served as deputy assistant commissioner for procurement and later as director of procurement at the IRS, before moving on to his position in program management.

Before joining the IRS, Williams was director of the Local Telecommunications Procurement Division at GSA, responsible for all nationwide local telecommunications purchases for the agency. He also served on a four-person team studying federal procurement practices for Vice President Gore's National Performance Review. The team came up with proposals that helped guide regulatory reform in the 1990s.

A native of Virginia, Williams holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and a master's in business administration from George Washington University.