INSPASS

INSPASS, or "INS Passenger Accelerated Service System", was a program of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) during the late 1990s and early 2000s the purpose of which was to facilitate the entry of pre-screened low-risk travellers through immigration and customs at certain airports.

Frequent fliers who were citizens of the U.S. or a handful of other trusted countries could apply for INSPASS privileges. After a thorough security screening, approved INSPASS members would register their hand geometry as a biometric identifier and presented with an associated membership card.

Upon entering the United States after arriving from abroad, users would subject themselves to hand geometry scans and would pass through Federal Inspection without undergoing a formal interview by border personnel. The initial kiosk implementation, a defined by the U.S. Department of Justice, was comprised of the following elements [ [http://www.uscis.gov/propub/DocView/frid/1/120/121/127 DOJ Draft Statement of Standards and Guidelines for Developing INSPASS, February 1995] ] :

* ATM-like stand
* 80486 personal computer
* MS-Windows running Visual Basic
* 10 inch monitor/touch-screen
* 16-key keypad
* OCR-B card reader
* Electronic gate lock trigger
* 5 inch Telpar receipt printer [ [http://www.fbodaily.com/cbd/archive/1998/08(August)/27-Aug-1998/70sol005.htm Commerce Business Daily, August 27, 1998] ]
* Recognition Systems, Inc (RSI) 'Handkey' hand geometry scanner [ [http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2001/10/10/106590 New security devices in the pipeline, October 2002] ]

The program initially was established at JFK International Airport and Newark International Airport in May 1993. Later, it expanded to the US Immigration and Customs Pre-Clearance Inspection Stations in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada. Although modeled on the Dutch "SchipholPass" program, INSPASS was the first large scale biometric identity verification program undertaken by the United States Government and quickly became the largest, in terms of enrollments, such program in the world.

The development of the project was initially piloted and then later deployed by Computer Data Systems, Inc. ( [http://www.answers.com/topic/computer-data-systems-inc CDSI] ) [ [http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/INS/a9508/index.htm INSPASS Pilot Program Report, March 1995] ] . The program was later taken over by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1995 when they were awarded a general services contract with the U.S. Department of Justice [Computer Data Loses Another Contract, Kathleen Day, Washington Post September 1, 1994] .

Program officials advocated the concept of "One Traveler, One Card" to promote harmonization of the system with other traveler biometric programs and regular meetings were held with the immigration authorities of Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands to achieve that goal. Pilots of land border versions were conducted in Buffalo, New York during the World University Games (summer 1993) and later in Hidalgo, Texas.

Although the program was discontinued in 2002, it has since been replaced by NEXUS; a program currently in the pilot phase between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Canada Border Services Agency.

References

External links

* [http://www.biometrics.org/REPORTS/INSPASS.html Biometric Consortium: INS Passenger Accelerated Service System (INSPASS)] 4 January 1996
* [http://www.biometrics.org/REPORTS/INSPASS2.html Biometric Consortium: INSPASS Update]
* [http://www.govtech.com/gt/20951 Government Technology News: Consideration of INSPASS in Israel, August 2002]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/systems/inspass.htm GlobalSecurity.org | USPASS (formerly INSPASS)]