D/FW eyes facial scans
The Fort Worth office of DynCorp, a leader in handling
security for the government, is marketing a new
face-recognition system designed for airports.
web.star-telegram.com
By DAN PILLER
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
DynCorp International has become
a leader in government security by
providing protection at U.S. military
bases and embassies and setting up police services in hot spots
such as Kosovo and Colombia.
Now the company's Fort Worth division has set its sights on a
newly emerging market: U.S. airports.
This week, DynCorp will present a face-recognition system to
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport developed in a joint venture with
AcSYS Biometrics Corp. of Toronto. It uses advanced
biometric 3-D technology to produce a facial image that is
considered by its proponents to be superior to existing
systems.
The DynCorp-AcSYS system will also differ from typical
surveillance cameras in that it can instantly match images with
databases, potentially alerting law enforcement officers to the
presence of actual or potential criminals.
"This is a major new step in the technology, and we think it is
particularly applicable at airports like D/FW with the new
emphasis on security after the Sept. 11 attacks," said Pete
Phelan, vice president of marketing for DynCorp.
The facial scanning system marks a rare public emergence for
DynCorp, based in Reston, Va. Its Fort Worth office employs
518 workers at 6500 West Freeway, mostly overseeing
contracts to provide security at military bases and U.S.
embassies. It also helps operate the U.S. Strategic Petroleum
Reserve in Louisiana.
The privately held company, which is 80 percent
employee-owned, serves numerous federal agencies including
the Defense and State departments, the Drug Enforcement
Agency and NASA. Through the first nine months of 2001, it
recorded net earnings of $17.3 million and revenues of $1.4
billion.
DynCorp's experience with the military led AcSYS Biometrics,
a leading-edge software company, to select it as a marketing
and operations partner for the airport security product.
The system uses a digital camera to take pictures of passengers
at ticket counters or security checkpoints. Phelan says it will be
up to the user - either the airport or airlines - to determine if the
photography will be voluntary or required.
As the pictures are taken and scanned, they are instantly
checked against a database stored in software.
The capability represents a leap forward from present camera
systems used at airports or ATMs that capture images but
don't match them with anything.
The database can be preloaded with images to be matched,
including pre- approved pictures of people who consented to
have photographs taken for easier processing through airports.
The database could also consist of photos of known criminals
and terrorists, a prime interest since Sept. 11.
"We're selling the system, and would install and maintain it,"
said Ben Medley, president of DynCorp Technical Services
and the ranking executive at the company's Fort Worth office.
The company declined to disclose the price of the system.
Airport officials will receive a private briefing about the
face-scanning system Wednesday. If it passes muster, the
matter will be sent to the full airport board. D/FW spokesman
Ken Capps said Monday that the airport is "looking at a
number of biometrics options."
Outwardly, the face- recognition scanning system is simple,
consisting of a digital camera and a laptop computer. The real
heart of the system is the computer program developed by Dr.
John Sutherland of AcSYS Biometrics in Toronto.
"The system is called holographic neural technology," said
DynCorp's Phelan, who will make the pitch to the airport.
D/FW, like other airports, has been told by the U.S.
Department of Transportation to investigate new technologies
for passenger and baggage screening. Plans have been set up
to test face-scanning equipment developed by other companies
at airports in Washington, D.C., and Boston.
Law enforcement officials have looked at biometric scanning as
well. Tampa, Fla., has tested face scanners at selected
locations in the city. No arrests yet have been attributed to the
scanners, said Tampa police.
Casinos have begun to use face-recognition cameras to identify
card-counters and cheaters.
The notion of photographing people, possibly against their will,
had been a rising issue before Sept. 11. Tampa's plans met
with protests after the scanning surveillance cameras became
known. When U.S. Rep. Dick Armey, R-Flower Mound,
learned last summer that the federal government had
encouraged testing of facial scanners, he said on the House
floor that "our comings and goings are none of the
government's damned business."
But courts have ruled on several occasions that Americans
don't have a right against being photographed in public areas.
Sept. 11 changed some attitudes about surveillance, at least for
the time being. In a Harris Poll conducted two weeks after the
attacks, 86 percent of Americans endorsed the use of
face-recognition software to spot terrorists.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta appointed a
special committee to study the feasibility of a nationwide
network of face- recognition cameras at airports, linked by the
Internet, that would use a government database to identify
suspected terrorists on the FBI's watch list should they try to
board planes.
Phelan said DynCorp envisions the face-scanning system
working in a more benign way.
"What the system would do is protect your identity, much like
a photographic credit card," Phelan said. "We're not implying a
national identification system."
But, he added, "We're presenting the technology. There will be
legal questions, and it will be up to the purchasers of the
systems to take those on."
This report includes material from Knight Ridder news service.
Dan Piller, (817) 390-7719
danpil@star-telegram.com
DYNCORP
Headquarters - Reston, Va.
Employees - 21,000
Executives - Dan Bannister, chairman; Paul Lombardi, president
and chief executive
Operations - Subcontracts security and communications services to
federal agencies, including the Defense, Energy, State and Justice
departments; the Drug Enforcement Agency; the National Institutes
of Health; the Defense Information Systems Agency; the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration; and various governments
Third-quarter revenues - $504.1 million
Third-quarter net earnings - $9.7 million
In Fort Worth - DynCorp Technical Services, 518 employees;
services include aviation maintenance, management of the U.S.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Louisiana and military base
operations
Source: DynCorp |
