US-VISIT is a governmentwide program intended to enhance the security of U.S. citizens and visitors, facilitate legitimate travel and trade, ensure the integrity of the U.S. immigration system, and protect the privacy of our visitors. Its scope includes the pre-entry, entry, status, and exit of hundreds of millions of foreign national travelers who enter and leave the United States at over 300 air, sea, and land POEs, and the provision of new analytical capabilities across the overall process. To achieve its goals, US-VISIT uses biometric information (digital fingerscans and photographs) to verify identity. In many cases, the US-VISIT process begins overseas at U.S. consular offices, which collect biometric information from applicants for visas and check this information against a database of known criminals and suspected terrorists. When a visitor arrives at a POE, the biometric information is used to verify that the visitor is the person who was issued the visa. In addition, at certain sites, visitors are required to confirm their departure by undergoing US-VISIT exit procedures—that is, having their visas or passports scanned and undergoing fingerscanning. The exit confirmation is added to the visitor’s travel records to demonstrate compliance with the terms of admission to the United States. (App. III provides a detailed description of the pre-entry, entry, status, exit, and analysis processes.) collecting, maintaining, and sharing information on certain foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States; identifying foreign nationals who (1) have overstayed or violated the terms of their admission; (2) may be eligible to receive, extend, or adjust their immigration status; or (3) should be apprehended or detained by law enforcement officials; detecting fraudulent travel documents, verifying traveler identity, and determining traveler admissibility through the use of biometrics; and facilitating information sharing and coordination within the immigration and border management community. In July 2003, DHS established a program office with responsibility for managing the acquisition, deployment, operation, and sustainment of the US-VISIT system and its associated supporting people (e.g., Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers), processes (e.g., entry/exit policies and procedures), and facilities (e.g., inspection booths and lanes), in coordination with its stakeholders (CBP and the Department of State). As of October 2005, about $1.4 billion has been appropriated for the program, and, according to program officials, about $962 million has been obligated. DHS plans to deliver US-VISIT capability in four increments, with Increments 1 through 3 being interim, or temporary, solutions that fulfill legislative mandates to deploy an entry/exit system, and Increment 4 being the implementation of a long-term vision that is to incorporate improved business processes, new technology, and information sharing to create an integrated border management system for the future. In Increments 1 through 3, the program is building interfaces among existing (“legacy”) systems; enhancing the capabilities of these systems; and deploying these capabilities to air, sea, and land POEs. These increments are to be largely acquired and implemented through existing system contracts and task orders. In May 2004, DHS awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity prime contract to Accenture and its partners. According to the contract, the prime contractor will help support the integration and consolidation of processes, functionality, and data, and it will develop a strategy to build on the technology and capabilities already available to produce the strategic solution, while also assisting the program office in leveraging existing systems and contractors in deploying the interim solutions. Increment 1 concentrates on establishing capabilities at air and sea POEs. It is divided into two parts—1 and 1B. Increment 1 (air and sea entry) includes the electronic capture and matching of biographic and biometric information (two digital index fingerscans and a digital photograph) for selected foreign nationals, including those from visa waiver countries. Increment 1 was deployed on January 5, 2004, for individuals requiring a nonimmigrant visa to enter the United States, through the modification of pre-existing systems. These modifications accommodated the collection and maintenance of additional data fields and established interfaces required to share data among DHS systems in support of entry processing at 115 airports and 14 seaports. Increment 1B (air and sea exit) involves the testing of exit devices to collect biometric exit data for select foreign nationals at 11 airports and seaports. Three exit alternatives were pilot tested: Kiosk—A self-service device (which includes a touch-screen interface, document scanner, finger scanner, digital camera, and receipt printer) that captures a digital photograph and fingerprint and prints out an encoded receipt. Mobile device—A hand-held device that is operated by a workstation attendant; it includes a document scanner, finger scanner, digital camera, and receipt printer and is used to capture a digital photograph and fingerprint. Validator—A hand-held device that is used to capture a digital photograph and fingerprint, which are then matched to the photograph and fingerprint captured via the kiosk and encoded in the receipt. Increment 2 focuses primarily on extending US-VISIT to land POEs. It is divided into three parts—2A, 2B, and 2C. Increment 2A (air, sea, and land) includes the capability to biometrically compare and authenticate valid machine-readable visas and other travel and entry documents issued by State and DHS to foreign nationals at all POEs. Increment 2A was deployed on October 23, 2005, according to program officials. It also includes the deployment by October 26, 2006, of technology to read biometrically enabled passports from visa waiver countries. Increment 2B (land entry) redesigns the Increment 1 entry solution and expands it to the 50 busiest land POEs. The process for issuing Form I-94 was redesigned to enable the electronic capture of biographic, biometric (unless the traveler is exempt), and related travel documentation for arriving travelers. This increment was deployed to the busiest 50 U.S. land border POEs as of December 29, 2004. Before Increment 2B, all information on the Form I-94s was handwritten. The redesigned systems electronically capture the biographic data included in the travel document. In some cases, the form is completed by CBP officers, who enter the data electronically and then print the form. Increment 2C is to provide the capability to automatically, passively, and remotely record the entry and exit of covered individuals using radio frequency (RF) technology tags at primary inspection and exit lanes. An RF tag that includes a unique ID number is to be embedded in each Form I-94, thus associating a unique number with a record in the US-VISIT system for the person holding that Form I-94. In August 2005, the program office deployed the technology to five border crossings (three POEs) to verify the feasibility of using passive RF technology to record traveler entries and exits via a unique ID number embedded in the CBP Form I-94. The results of this demonstration are to be reported in February 2006. Increment 3 extended Increment 2B (land entry) capabilities to 104 land POEs; this increment was essentially completed as of December 19, 2005. Increment 4 is the strategic US-VISIT program capability, which program officials stated will likely consist of a further series of incremental releases or mission capability enhancements that will support business outcomes. The program reports that it has worked with its prime contractor and partners to develop this overall vision for the immigration and border management enterprise. Increments 1 through 3 include the interfacing and integration of existing systems and, with Increment 2C, the creation of a new system, the Automated Identification Management System (AIDMS). The three main existing systems are as follows: The Arrival Departure Information System (ADIS) stores noncitizen traveler arrival and departure data received from air and arrival data captured by CBP officers at air and sea POEs, Form I-94 issuance data captured by CBP officers at Increment 2B departure information captured at US-VISIT biometric departure pilot (air and sea) locations, pedestrian arrival information and pedestrian and vehicle departure information captured at Increment 2C POE locations, and status update information provided by the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and the Computer Linked Application Information Management System (CLAIMS 3) (described below). ADIS provides record matching, query, and reporting functions. The passenger processing component of the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS) includes two systems: Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), a system that captures arrival and departure manifest information provided by air and sea carriers, and the Interagency Border Inspection System, a system that maintains lookout data and interfaces with other agencies’ databases. CBP officers use these data as part of the admission process. The results of the admission decision are recorded in TECS and ADIS. The Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) collects and stores biometric data on foreign visitors. US-VISIT also exchanges biographic information with other DHS systems, including SEVIS and CLAIMS 3. These two systems contain information on foreign students and foreign nationals who request benefits, such as a change of status or extension of stay. Some of the systems previously described, such as IDENT and the new AIDMS, are managed by the program office, while some systems are managed by other organizational entities within DHS. For example, TECS is managed by CBP, SEVIS is managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, CLAIMS 3 is under United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and ADIS is jointly managed by CBP and US-VISIT.