IDENT/IAFIS: The Batres Case and the Status of the Integration Project (Cont)
VII. STATUS OF IDENT/IAFIS INTEGRATION
Since the OIG's June 2003 report on the status of the IDENT/IAFIS integration, the integration project has made some progress but it continues to move slowly. As of January 2004, all aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol still are not checked against FBI criminal fingerprint records and the FBI and other law enforcement agencies using the FBI's fingerprint records still cannot access the DHS's criminal alien fingerprint records. Further, the transfer of the INS to the DHS has created additional issues relating to the management of the integration project. This section of the report summarizes the current status of the IDENT/IAFIS integration project.
June 2003 OIG Report
In June 2003, we reported that the IDENT/IAFIS integration project had fallen at least 2 years behind schedule.27 At that time, the next major project milestone was deployment of the initial integrated version of IDENT/IAFIS, Version 1.2. Originally scheduled for December 2001, that deployment experienced a series of delays while JMD studied the operational costs of the integration (called the Metric Study) and while the INS focused on developing the National Security Entry/Exit Registration System (NSEERS).28
We also reported that the integration project was at risk of further delays because JMD had not developed a transition plan for continued management of the project after the INS transferred to the DHS in March 2003. Moreover, JMD had not prepared a revised schedule for completing the full integration of IDENT and IAFIS. We found that the lack of planning resulted in confusion over whether JMD or the DHS would manage the development and deployment of the integration project. We also noted the potential loss of expertise as the DHS reassigned individuals experienced in IDENT away from the stalled integration project.
The delays and lack of planning we noted for the integration project were troubling because the interim enhancements made to IDENT had resulted in an impressive record of helping to identify wanted aliens. For example, from January 2002 to April 2003 the INS identified 4,820 apprehended aliens wanted in connection with a variety of serious criminal offenses, including at least 50 aliens wanted in connection with murder, after 152,000 NCIC "wants and warrants fingerprint records were added to the IDENT lookout database.
Our June 2003 report recommended that JMD coordinate with the DHS to identify the management, deployment, and operational issues raised by the INS transfer to the DHS; prepare a revised project deployment plan; and report quarterly on the progress and interim results of the Metric Study.
Progress Since June 2003
In its response included in the OIG's June 2003 report, JMD said that it initiated communication between the Chief Information Officers of DOJ and DHS to discuss project integration issues; prepared a revised deployment plan; briefed Congress and DOJ officials on the project status; and issued the first quarterly report from the Metric Study. However, in a September 17, 2003, follow-up response JMD identified several critical issues it said threatened the progress of the IDENT/IAFIS integration effort. We discuss these issues and the progress made by the DOJ and DHS in addressing the issues as of January 2004.
Project Leadership and Responsibilities. DOJ and the DHS have assigned lead responsibility for the integration project to specific offices in each agency - for the DOJ, JMD's Management Planning Staff and for the DHS, its ENFORCE/IDENT Program Office.29 However, as of January 2004, the DOJ and DHS still had not developed an interagency memorandum of understanding to clarify the roles, responsibilities, and funding for the IDENT/IAFIS integration project.30
Funding. The DOJ's FY 2004 appropriation, passed by Congress in January 2004, included $5.1 million for the integration project, $4 million dollars less than requested by the DOJ. The DHS received no direct funding for the integration project in its FY 2004 appropriation. JMD officials told the OIG that it believes this level of funding will slow down the deployment of Version 1.2 of IDENT/IAFIS, but at the time of this report JMD had not yet estimated the extent of the delay.
In addition, the DOJ and the DHS disagree on whether any of the $330 million Congress has provided for the DHS's US VISIT program in FY 2004 could be used appropriately to advance the IDENT/IAFIS integration project.
Finally, the President's FY 2005 budget request includes $21.5 million for the IDENT/IAFIS project - $5.1 million for JMD to continue development and $16 million for IAFIS to support anticipated increased transactions from DHS sites. According to JMD officials, the DHS is responsible for the expense and scheduling of further development and deployment of Version 1.2.
Interoperability. As of January 2004, issues related to the compatibility of the two-print US VISIT system with the ten-print records in the IAFIS database were unresolved, as was the issue of whether and how IAFIS would access the US VISIT fingerprint records. As of January 2004, it has not been determined yet how IDENT/IAFIS will interface with the structure of the new US VISIT biometric system implemented to track the arrival and departure of foreign visitors to the United States.
On January 26, 2004, the first meeting of the US VISIT Federal Stakeholders Advisory Board was held, chaired by the DHS Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security, followed several days later by a meeting attended by many of the IDENT/IAFIS principals. At this second meeting, the DOJ and DHS officials agreed to formally present positions on providing the FBI access to US VISIT fingerprint records and on existing policies that would restrict the sharing of this information. DHS was tasked with researching the possibilities of sharing US VISIT data with DOJ and the FBI. Both groups are scheduled to meet again in March 2004.
Development Schedules. We were informed by DOJ in September 2003 that DHS staff working on the IDENT/IAFIS integration have been redirected to the US VISIT program, which continues to be a DHS priority. Further, we were told that implementation of US VISIT required changes to IDENT, which resulted in delay of IDENT/IAFIS integration efforts until the US VISIT changes were completed and a "stable software baseline" (i.e., a version not undergoing revision) was established. The DHS staffing issues were resolved by October 2003 with implementation of the integrated BTS/US VISIT/ENFORCE IDENT Program Office and the hiring of additional DHS personnel whose work on US VISIT accelerated necessary modifications to IDENT/IAFIS. JMD officials told us that the stability of the IDENT/ENFORCE software baseline remains a potential concern for the duration of the development of US VISIT through FY 2005. DOJ officials stated that they considered Version 1 (as represented by Version 1.2) to be completed. DHS officials stated that DOJ and DHS have not yet completed development of Version 1.2 as defined in its requirements document.
DOJ and DHS officials also noted the importance of a Fingerprint Vendor Technology Evaluation being conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology on behalf of JMD and in conjunction with the FBI. This evaluation is responsive to a requirement in the Department's FY 2003 appropriations bill directing that $1 million be spent on a pilot program for software for IAFIS capable of expediting background checks using ten or less fingerprint comparisons.31
Fingerprint Image Quality. According to DOJ and DHS officials, fingerprint image quality is currently the most important operational issue in the IDENT/IAFIS integration project. According to DHS officials, this issue has temporarily slowed further deployment of Version 1.1+. The recent image quality problems coincide with deployment of Version 1.1+ and its new fingerprint scanner.32 In late 2003, 20 to 30 percent of IDENT fingerprint quality indicator scores began falling into the unacceptable range. DHS staff suspect three possible overlapping causes: the new scanners; the cropping of the fingerprint images after the fingerprint has been scanned and before the image is searched against the IDENT database; and inadequate training. Since discovering the problems, DHS officials said that they are testing another scanner to see if it gets better results, adjusting the area of the fingerprint that is scanned and examining the effectiveness of their training.
Data Completeness. According to JMD, as of September 2003 the DHS had identified discrepancies in the data that JMD was collecting from various sources to estimate "front line" and "downstream" costs of the integration project for the Metric Study.33 As of January 2004, the DHS and JMD still were in the process of identifying and resolving these discrepancies.
We concluded that as of January 2004, some progress has been made in deploying the initial integrated versions of IDENT/IAFIS, but the integration process continues to proceed slowly. IDENT Version 1.1+ workstations have been deployed to approximately 56 DHS sites, including 25 ports of entry and 31 Border Patrol stations. That represents about 12 percent of all ports of entry, and about 20 percent of all Border Patrol sites.34
The first Metric Study report sent to Congress on July 18, 2003, estimated that, as a result of improved IAFIS access, the Border Patrol was able to obtain additional criminal history information that it would not have known about for between 8.8 percent and 10.3 percent of the aliens it apprehended at the metric sites. Preliminary Metrics data from October through December 2003, with all sites deploying Version 1.1+, suggested that access to IAFIS provided criminal history information to the Border Patrol on between 8.5 and 11.8 percent of apprehended aliens that would not have been known by searching IDENT alone. From October 1, 2003, until January 31, 2004, the Border Patrol had 9,650 criminal hits from IAFIS that, including hits for aliens wanted in connection with 13 murders.
The FBI continues to electronically update every two weeks the "wants and warrants" file that goes into the IDENT lookout database. Every month, the FBI also provides to the lookout database an updated Terrorist file, which includes fingerprint records the FBI has acquired from various law enforcement and security sources. From October 2003 until January 31, 2004, the DHS has received 3,034 hits on apprehended aliens from the updated "wants and warrants" file, including 399 hits for aliens wanted for violent crimes.
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