Subscribe to the Free Print Edition!
Celebrating 25 Years

GCN Home > 06/16/03 issue

U.N. aviation group approves biometrics for the fast lane

By Vandana Sinha, GCN Staff

An international aviation security body has developed draft standards for embedding biometrics into machine-readable travel documents such as passports, though details of the plan need to be resolved over the next several months.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialized United Nations agency based in Montreal, last month approved its Technology Advisory Group’s recommendation of facial recognition as the biometric technology of choice for travel documents. Member countries also can choose any other biometric system to accompany the facial images. The group also selected high-capacity, contactless integrated circuit chips to store the digital images on the documents.

The decision underscores the growing presence of biometric technology in federal systems designed to prevent terrorist attacks.

But much work still remains on the ICAO report, from finalizing specifications for the facial images and chip capacity to determining the funding and timetable for the documents’ overhaul, said Richard P. McClevey, the State Department’s director of information management.

And time is short. The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act mandates that countries in the Visa Waiver program begin complying with the ICAO biometrics requirements by October 2004. McClevey acknowledged that the deadline is tight but said it must be met.

Speedy decision

“If I had my personal preference, I would like to have more time to do this. We all would,” McClevey said at a recent biometrics conference in Washington. “But the fact of the matter is, the law is what it is. ... We’re not going to change that.”

Still others were impressed by how quickly ICAO reached its decision. “We are delighted at the speed,” said W. Russell Neuman, a senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “A process that would have taken nine months was just approved last week.”

The biometrics decision will be included in ICAO’s Document 9303, which discusses standards for international machine-readable travel documents. The group, which counts 188 member nations, favored facial recognition as the least intrusive biometric test and integrated circuit chips as the best capacity storage medium, McClevey said.

More news on related topics: Biometrics, Homeland Security



GCN Popup