After studying mature biometric technologies, NIST--in conjunction with the Departments of Justice and State--made the recommendation in a report transmitted on Feb. 4, 2003, to Congress. The study was mandated by the PATRIOT Act and the Enhanced Border Security Act.
NIST's Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) spearheaded evaluations to determine the ability of biometrics to enhance border security. The evaluations look at two applications: the first is positively identifying visa applicants and the second is verifying that the holder of a visa is the person to whom the visa was issued.
Fingerprint performance was measured on an Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) database of 1.2 million prints of 620,000 individuals. The Face Recognition Vendor Tests (FRVT) 2002 measured face recognition performance of 10 vendors on a Department of State database of 121,000 images of 37,000 individuals.
Based on the evaluations, as well as practical considerations, NIST recommends (1) the use of at least two fingerprints to positively identify visa applicants and (2) a dual system of face and fingerprints to verify the identities of visa holders at points of entry into the United States.
NIST managed the FRVT 2002 with sponsorship and support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Departments of Defense, Justice and State; and other federal agencies. More information is available at www.frvt.org, and results are expected to be posted in February 2003. The complete NIST appendix to the report to Congress is available at www.itl.nist.gov/iad/894.03/NISTAPP_Nov02.pdf.