A bipartisan House Intelligence Committee review has called on the United States to complete biometric entry and exit screening for foreign nationals, identifying uneven coverage at seaports, vehicle crossings and land exits as an unfinished recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence issued the recommendation after a year-long review of national security changes made since the 2004 commission report. Completing the biometric system is one of 20 actions proposed ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
The committee recommends collecting biometrics from foreign nationals when they are admitted to and depart from the country. It also calls for biometric collection at land exits wherever doing so is practicable, an area that has presented greater infrastructure and traffic-management challenges than airport processing.
A status table in the report classifies biometric collection at air entry, sea entry and pedestrian land entry as complete. Air exit is listed as nearly complete, while sea exit, vehicle land entry, pedestrian land exit and vehicle land exit remain incomplete.
The report says those gaps limit the government’s ability to determine whether visitors have left the country and to identify visa overstays. It also argues that complete arrival and departure records would help authorities identify foreign nationals who may present national security or public-safety risks.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has expanded facial comparison across international air travel and at selected land and sea locations. The Department of Homeland Security has also adopted a nationwide biometric exit rule for non-citizens, replacing the pilot framework that governed earlier deployments.
Airports are the most mature part of the system because facial images can be collected during established boarding processes and compared with passport or visa records. Land borders are more complex, particularly for occupants of vehicles moving through high-volume crossings where a new collection step could affect traffic flow.
The committee’s recommendation adds bipartisan support to a separate congressional push for biometric border scanning. The report also asks the executive branch to provide Congress with an implementation plan for closing the remaining gaps.
The broader review covers intelligence sharing, cybersecurity, transportation security and foreign terrorist threats. Its biometric entry-exit assessment focuses specifically on the commission’s recommendation for a system that records both the arrival and departure of foreign travelers.
Sources: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee Report
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By Cass Kennedy
