U.S. Borders to Get High-Tech Locks

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Technological deficiencies within the Immigration and Naturalization Services "helped cause" the September 11 terrorist attacks, and now technology must help boost security, says the chair of the Senate's technology and terrorism subcommittee.

"In a time when terrorists use satellite phones and encrypted e-mails, INS is stuck in the technological dark ages," said Senator Dianne Feinstein (R-California) at a recent hearing. She charges that government agencies rely on "archaic systems that lead to poor communication."

Changes are clearly in the works. For example, database vendor Oracle has offered to donate software and staffing to create a national identification database, Feinstein said. But that's only one aspect of what she, other senators, and several experts, envision for INS systems.

Better training and more widespread use of a portable, wireless biometric identification system, dubbed IDENT, is planned, says INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar. Currently, agents get little training in using the system, he said.

Biometrics Boost

The INS now relies on a computer database of names, which makes identity theft easy, Feinstein said. IDENT or other biometric systems would reduce reliance on identification documents, such as driver's licenses, that can be easily faked.

Fingerprinting is the simplest method of biometric identification. More sophisticated methods, proposed for airport security as well as the border patrol, include automated face recognition, such as iris scanning.

Better record keeping and cross-references might have identified some of the terrorists who acted on September 11, Feinstein noted, listing some identifiable oversights.

Feinstein noted that 13 of the 19 individuals identified as the September 11 hijackers had entered the United States with visas, some of which had expired before the date of the attacks. The INS has no information on the other six hijackers.

In addition, 23 million noncitizens legally entered the United States last year without visas under a waiver agreement between the United States and 29 other countries. During the same period, 7.1 million people arrived with temporary documents such as student visas that the INS has no reliable way of tracking.

Scrutinizing Students

"In the last ten years, more than 16,000 students came from such terrorist-supporting states as Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, and Syria," Feinstein said. Those numbers do not include the 500 million people who move across U.S. borders and through U.S. ports each year.

"We have had plenty of warning of the serious weaknesses in our immigration system that led to the horrific September 11 attacks," she said. "That was our wake-up call."

Understaffed border patrols need more cameras, sensors, and monitoring devices, says Glenn Fine, inspector general with the Department of Justice. The northern border is especially ill-equipped, he noted. One patrol group responsible for 300 miles of U.S.-Canadian border has only 36 sensors, he said.