Britons to Be Scanned for FBI Database
The Department of Homeland Security plans to begin testing new airport technology that will scan all ten fingertips of passengers in a bid to make the data compatible with the FBI database. Currently, just two fingerprints are scanned.
The new policy will apply equally to countries on friendly and unfriendly terms with the United States. Travelers from Briton and other E.U. nations as well as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand will be affected.
Testing will begin this summer at 10 airports before being implemented across the United States by the end of 2008.
Fingerprinting is a major component of the federal government’s anti-terrorism efforts.
“A fingerprint that is left … in the training camp or in the safe house is, in fact, a powerful tool,” says Homeland Chief Michael Chertoff. “‘We will have a world in which any terrorist who has ever been in a safe house or has ever been in a training camp is going to ask himself or herself this question: have I ever left a fingerprint anywhere?”
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from Guardian Unlimited (UK); 01/07/07; Harris, Paul; Doward, Jamie; Gallagher, Paul.