If you find that idea disquieting-and who, by the way, didn't already have that hunch without being taunted by a headline? -then you can take comfort from the Department of Homeland Security's new US-VISIT program.

The acronym stands for U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology. The program got underway on January 5, 2004, after a two-month test at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, Ga. It's a fast, uncomplicated, and most important, incontrovertible way of ascertaining who's coming into the country, who's leaving, and when. It's incontrovertible because it uses biometrics-literally, "living measures," what Mother Nature gave you at birth-to authenticate identity and verify that you are who you claim to be. US-VISIT's biometric information will help thwart identity fraud by providing unalterable, unassailable identity information.

You can't fool Mother Nature
Biometrics can be anything from fingerprints to DNA to iris and voice recognition. US-VISIT uses a digital facial photo taken as the traveler clears immigration and prints of the traveler's two index fingers obtained with an inkless scan: you simply put your fingertip on a small Plexiglas plate. The whole thing adds an average 15 seconds to the traveler's processing time.

Here's how it works: A foreign national goes to the U.S. embassy in his or her home country for a visa to visit the United States. After a brief interview, the consular official takes his photo and issues the visa. When he or she arrives in the United States, US-VISIT's computers will validate that the photo and other biometric data are indeed of the person who applied for the visa.

That is, unless someone has meddled with the travel documents.

Changing passport photos is the fraud of choice for those who want to conceal their identities. That's one reason why US-VISIT backs photos up with fingerprints; together, these biometric measures will make passport theft and forgery much more difficult. The tiny minority of visitors who may have criminal records will have had their fingerprints recorded, whether here or abroad, and these can also be made available to CBP officers. So if the system's software finds discrepancies among these biometric measures, US-VISIT will flag them-it will make a "hit." In fact, from January 5, 2004, when the program "went live," through the first week of March 2004, US-VISIT processed almost 2 million people and made more than 150 hits, 60 of them for criminal violations.

Photo Credit: James Tourtellotte

DHS Secretary Tom Ridge and CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner at the launch of US-VISIT at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Ga.

Less than two weeks after US-VISIT opened for business, it hit upon a Peruvian national trying to enter the country with phony identity. He had been in the United States just seven months earlier, and his name didn't appear on any watch lists. Yet US-VISIT cut right to the truth: this man was a convicted cocaine trafficker wanted for escaping from a federal prison twenty years earlier. You really can't fool Mother Nature.

Same with a Salvadoran citizen who had been convicted of a DUI hit-and-run fatality while in the United States. This guy was slick: He'd been convicted under a bogus identity-the conviction was for someone who didn't even exist. Plus, he'd been in and out of the U.S. several times-as recently as December 2003, less than a month before US-VISIT started-always with a different identify despite outstanding warrants for his arrest.

But he wasn't slick enough: US-VISIT's biometrics nabbed him when he tried to re-enter on January 10, 2004.

The security gestalt: a whole is greater than the sum of parts
Since 9/11, CBP has been building its widely publicized, justifiably acclaimed "multi-layered" approach to homeland security. Step by judicious step, CBP is cementing an invisible shield to secure the nation's perimeter.

The layers consist of new concepts, new technologies, even a new vocabulary -radiation portals, gamma-ray devices, CSI, non-intrusive technology, SENTRI, 24-hour rules, FAST, and C-TPAT, to name only a few-aimed at tackling the complex problem of cargo security. But anyone who thinks CBP has overlooked passenger enforcement is dreaming.

It may be free [speech], but it ain't cheap
As it happens, there are people who wish CBP were dreaming. Concerned about privacy issues, xenophobia or discrimination, they think US-VISIT goes too far.

But make no mistake: CBP is acutely aware of the privacy concerns surrounding US-VISIT. The new passenger information will be stored in databases maintained by DHS and the Department of State as part of an individual's travel record. Besides, the notion of collecting travel data for security or law-enforcement purposes is not new. Even before the advent of computers, passport information was collected and stored, largely for the reasons that US-VISIT is doing so-security, customs or immigration violations, law enforcement. Almost any movie from the 1940s whose plot involves international travel and intrigue bears witness to that fact. US-VISIT's state-of-the art software and firewalls will simply make better information more secure.

Photo Credit: James Tourtellotte

CBP Officer Paul Trump (left) demonstrates a biometric fingerprint device with ICE Special Agent Anthony Ho.

The data will be available to U.S. consular officers, CBP officers at ports of entry, special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, adjudication personnel at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and appropriate law-enforcement personnel on, it must be emphasized, a need-to-know basis. In other words, only authorized officials will have access. In addition, the DHS privacy officer will continue to review the program to assure that safeguards are not being violated.

How it's working on the ground
The counterpoint to institutional concerns about privacy comes from the travelers themselves: the day US-VISIT went live, interviews with dozens of travelers indicated was that clearance was swift, easy, not a big deal. Some said that not only did they not mind the new procedures, they welcomed the added security. A German businessman said, "It's a fact of life these days that there's enhanced security." And from a South African traveler: "...you can see some justification for [it]."

But after 9/11, the very least that's in order is a little tough love: We are a nation known for our open borders, open arms, generous nature, and welcoming spirit, in hindsight, maybe even to our detriment. At US-VISIT's inauguration, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said, "We want to [keep] our borders open to visitors, but closed to terrorists."

A visitor from Chile added the perfect coda. "Any measures America feels it has to take to prevent any future terrorist attacks are worth losing a few minutes over," he said. "Hopefully the rest of the world will catch on and do the same."