DHS Special Report | Agencies Look for a Match on Fingerprint Systems

But officials familiar with the program note that until DHS upgrades its existing database to accept 10 fingerprints, and the FBI substantially revamps its Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System database, the interoperability of IAFIS and DHS’ Automated Biometric Identification System, known at IDENT, will remain years away.

“They’ve been fighting this thing for 10 years, and they’ve spent a lot of money,” said a former senior DHS official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “My bet is that they won’t get it solved until you get Next Generation IAFIS.”

Still, DHS, the FBI and the State Department have started the groundwork to make the systems interoperable, and they expect to reach an interim data-sharing model this September. The agencies hope to reach full interoperability by 2010, government officials say.

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IDENT—the engine that supplies DHS’ U.S. Visitor and Immigration Status Indicator Technology program with fingerprint data—relies on data and prints collected domestically by DHS and overseas by State Department officials from foreigners who wish to obtain visas. The prints are checked and verified by DHS to ensure that the person seeking the visa is not on a terrorist watch list.

IAFIS is a 10-print criminal-justice database that contains information on individuals with outstanding wants and warrants.

The effort to link the systems could be further postponed by an expected delay in the solicitation for Next Generation IAFIS, industry observers say.

The FBI planned to release a request for proposals this October, but now it will likely be delayed until sometime next year, said Megan Gamse, a manager at market research firm Input of Reston, Va.

FBI officials would not comment on any potential delay.

Under the interim data-sharing model, State, Justice and DHS will contribute biometric data, including the FBI’s wants and warrants information, DHS’ data on aliens who have waived their right to see an immigration judge, and State’s Category One Critical Visa Refusal records of individuals not eligible to enter the country.

“My bet is that they won’t get it solved until you get Next Generation IAFIS.” FORMER SENIOR DHS OFFICIAL

The interim solution “will help these agencies identify individuals that present a potential risk to public safety or that are applying for positions of national security or public trust,” according to the FBI.

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