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Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection |
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Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection: The Development of the Biometric Entry/Exit Program as a Key Recommendation in the 911 Commission Report
As we mark a key milestone – the 20th anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 – we remember where we were on that devastating day, think of the victims and their families, and remember the lasting impacts on our country. Following the terrorist attacks, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was created in 2003, through the integration of all or part of 22 different federal departments and agencies into a unified Department. The Entry/Exit mission, which included the development of an automated entry-exit system that would collect records on foreign travelers who arrived to and departed from the United States, was transferred to the newly created US-VISIT Program office at DHS.
Through several pieces of legislation that followed and as a key recommendation of the 911 Commission Report, the development of an Entry/Exit system would now include the collection of biometrics – two fingerprints and a photograph — for foreign travelers on arrival and departure. US-VISIT successfully launched biometric entry in phases starting in 2004 – collecting two fingerprints and a photograph – of foreign travelers at airports and seaports and implemented a biometric entry process at all U.S. land borders at the end of 2005.
However, the implementation of a biometric exit process posed several challenges given the co-mingling of domestic and international travelers and the lack of infrastructure for exit processing at U.S. airports and land borders. Over the years, US-VISIT implemented a variety of biometric exit pilots, including testing some concepts in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to evaluate the optimal process to collect biometrics for departing travelers. Given the cost and amount of resources needed to build and staff a new biometric exit process, it became clear that DHS would need to come up with an innovative solution to successfully meet this security mandate.
When the Entry/Exit mission was transferred to CBP in 2013, we took the challenge head on by deploying new pilots and working closely with stakeholders in the air travel industry and biometrics industry to plan a path forward. The collaboration and partnership, combined with CBP’s creative approach to the way we use our own data, resulted in real momentum, and led us to where we are today: the expansion of biometric exit fully, or partially, to 32 airports.
To advance the biometric exit mandate, we have partnered with the air travel industry to implement a secure, stand-alone system that can be seamlessly integrated into the boarding process. While the airlines and airports have purchased the facial biometric technology (camera) for biometric exit, we have built a facial biometric matching service that the airlines, airports, and TSA can access wherever traveler identity verification is required throughout the air travel journey such as check in, bag drop, security checkpoint, and boarding.
A camera can be installed at an airline departure gate without any necessary changes to existing airport infrastructure and is minimally disruptive to the flow of travel. We chose facial biometrics because of the photographs that are already in government holdings that CBP can compare against (e.g. passport, visa, and previous entries); it is an intuitive process as just about everyone knows how to take a photo; and it integrates seamlessly into the airport boarding process. When departing from select airports during international travel, passengers pause for a photo at the departure gate and in a matter of seconds, our biometric facial comparison service will compare that photo to images the traveler has already provided.
Currently, we have commitments from several airlines and airports to implement secure, touchless biometric boarding and enhance the departure process. To date, we have processed almost 20 million travelers using facial biometrics upon departure from the United States with a match rate above 98 percent.
To complement biometric boarding, we have implemented a similar process at entry at select airports known as Simplified Arrival, an enhanced international arrival process that uses facial biometrics to automate the manual document checks that are already required for admission into the United States. As the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic was becoming clear in the first half of 2020, we recognized the health and safety benefits of a touchless biometric identification service and accelerated the deployment schedule to ensure maximum utilization of Simplified Arrival. As a result, CBP is part of the travel recovery efforts to build passenger confidence in safer travel.
Currently, we have implemented biometric facial comparison technology partially or fully at entry into the United States at 198 airports, including Preclearance locations. As part of our land border innovation efforts and building upon the successful implementation of Simplified Arrival at the airports, we expanded the use of facial biometrics to the pedestrian lanes at U.S. land borders. Currently, Simplified Arrival has been deployed in varying degrees to 78 locations representing 46 Ports of Entry (21 on the Northern Border and 25 on the Southern Border). Each of these locations has a 1:1 biometric facial matching process, in which the traveler’s live photo is compared to the document the traveler presents.
This month, we also began a Simplified Arrival pilot in select vehicle lanes at the Anzalduas International Bridge Port of Entry (POE) in Texas for travelers arriving in the United States. As part of this 120-day pilot, we will evaluate the system’s ability to capture a quality facial image for each occupant in the vehicle, as well as the accuracy of the biometric matching to inform future biometric enhancements for vehicle entry processing.
In the sea environment, we have deployed biometric facial comparison technology into the debarkation process at eight seaports in the U.S., in partnership with nine cruise lines. In addition, we are expanding our data sharing agreements with cruise partners to enhance security. This effort will provide a more complete analysis of passengers in advance of travel and streamline inspections.
In collaboration with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), we continue to explore how CBP and TSA can expand the use of facial biometrics in the curb to gate travel experience, leveraging CBP’s facial biometric matching service. We have partnered with TSA on several multi-phased operational tests to assess the use of facial biometrics to further secure and enhance travel at the TSA checkpoint.
To date, CBP has processed over 100 million travelers using facial biometrics. Whether air, land, or sea innovation, the use of facial biometrics is secure, efficient, and touchless and enhances the customer experience. Biometric facial comparison technology has been proven to decrease aircraft boarding times. For example, airlines have reported that they have boarded travelers on A380 planes in 20 minutes through the biometric boarding process. Additionally, post-cruise satisfaction surveys by travelers have been exceedingly positive and highlight the ease and efficiency of facial biometrics in the debarkation process.
In addition to streamlining travel, the use of facial biometrics protects the identity of travelers and adds another layer of security. Since September 2018, we have used biometric facial comparison technology to identify over 950 impostors. Recently, CBP officers prevented an impostor from entry at the Laredo, Texas land border port of entry:
As with the use of any new emerging technology, it’s critical that accuracy and privacy concerns are appropriately addressed at the forefront to ensure the public’s acceptance and use. At CBP, we use a high-quality facial comparison algorithm, which shows virtually no measurable differential performance in results based on demographic factors. We continually evaluate the performance of this algorithm and have partnered with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to further enhance the biometric facial comparison process.
At CBP, we also take our privacy obligations very seriously and are dedicated to protecting the privacy of all travelers. We have published multiple Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) that explain all aspects of CBP’s biometric Entry/Exit program, to include policies and procedures for the collection, storage, analysis, use, dissemination, retention, and/or deletion of data. In addition, the Entry/Exit program includes four primary safeguards to secure passenger data, including encryption during data storage and transfer, irreversible biometric templates, brief retention periods, and secure storage.
Photos of U.S. citizens and select foreign travelers who are not statutorily required to provide biometrics are securely held in CBP systems and deleted within 12 hours. Photos of all other foreign travelers are stored in a secure DHS database. U.S. citizens are welcome to participate in the biometric facial comparison process; however, if they do not wish to do so, they can simply notify a CBP officer who will perform a manual document check. In addition, foreign travelers who prefer not to participate in the biometric boarding process upon departure from the U.S. can also request a manual document check.
In November 2020, we published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), which proposes to amend CBP’s Entry/Exit regulations by eliminating references to pilot programs and the port limitation to permit the collection of photographs or other biometrics from non-U.S. travelers departing from airports, land ports, seaports, or any other authorized point of departure. We have been analyzing all comments received and will respond in the Final Rule, including making any adjustments as necessary.
The September 11th anniversary continues to reinforce the critical importance of the biometric Entry/Exit mission each year, and we are proud of the progress we have made on this security mandate. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted international travel in the air, land, and sea environments, there is also a significant opportunity to transform and enhance the future of touchless travel by expanding public-private partnerships and leveraging technology.
Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Kimberly Weissman
Kimberly.Weissman@cbp.dhs.gov
Applications and use cases | Privacy and policy | Research and development | Technology innovation
