Evaluation of Insecurity System - Essay Example

Insecurity System Executive Summary As tragic events of 9/11 painfully remind us, our inability and failure to accurately identify and track suspected terrorists movements and activities within our borders resulted in arguably the greatest catastrophe in American history and loss of thousands of lives. In order to rectify the this problem and to comply with Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004 enacted by Congress, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposes a Terrorism Intelligence Data Interoperability System (TIDIS) which combines functions and capabilities of 1) capturing biometrics data from suspected terrorists that travel through U.S. ports of entry and fail to register through proper immigration channels, 2) storing, analyzing and integrating captured data with known criminal/terrorist databases through a data interoperability system, and 3) a GIS (Geographic Information System) module that uses biometrics data to map terrorist movement through U.S. borders. With such a capable program, DHS will have a powerful tool to identify and track terrorist movement within U.S. which does not register on immigration channels, integrating this information with law enforcement and intelligence data and helping coordinate terrorist prevention efforts of various federal agencies. Without TIDIS, we as a Nation face a significant risk of terrorists “slipping through the cracks” and possibly executing another attack such as 9/11 on U.S. soil. Importance of TIDIS if further underscored by the fact that such a system will drastically improve cooperation between intelligence and law enforcement communities in identifying and tracking terrorists, a deficiency which was identified by 9/11 commission in its findings and attempted to be rectified through Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004. Looking more closely at TIDIS system and methodology in determining particular technology solutions to meet our objectives, we concluded that biometrics technology will give DHS a capability to collect data and rapidly identify suspected terrorists as they pass through a point of entry, data interoperability function will enable rapid data analysis and sharing across multiple organizations and jurisdictions, and GIS function will allow for integration of biometrics data with geographic mapping capability. TIDIS will require several component systems such as XR-1000 biometrics/CCTV system for capturing biometrics data from traveling passengers at a checkpoint. It will also require XF-1500 data system for data warehouse and interoperability purposes, as well as XL-2000 GIS system to manage, display and interlink captured biometrics data with geospatial data. Initial start-up cost of TIDIS, as projected by DHS’s finance division, will be approximately 84 million dollars for systems equipment and establishment of facilities to house such equipment. Further estimated 35 million dollars per year will be necessary for maintenance/upkeep costs as well as employee wages. TIDIS performance will be evaluated based on a test pilot program to be initiated at Logan International airport in Boston, MA, where each component module of the program (biometrics, data interoperability, GIS) will be measured according to pre-determined benchmarks of performance. 2. Problem Identification In the effort to secure our National borders, identify and track suspected terrorists our intelligence and law enforcement agencies of all levels of government face a daunting task. Namely, challenges we as Nation face are: 1) how to collect data from suspected terrorists that cross our borders, 2) how to identify suspected terrorists that cross our borders, 3) how to store, compare and share that data with many organizations engaged in homeland security missions, and finally, 4) how to track and alert those organizations to movements of those suspected terrorists as they move throughout our Nation? In order to coordinate all of these elements of terrorist identification and tracking, DHS needs a comprehensive and integrated system that has the capability to bring these elements together into a one seamless process. The need for such a capability has been painfully demonstrated by the tragedy of 9/11 when terrorists were able to infiltrate our Nation and execute a coordinated attack despite our intelligence and law enforcement communities having prior knowledge of parts of plan yet being unable to “connect the dots” and effectively share intelligence information. To underline the need for reform in our National intelligence gathering and sharing process, Congress enacted the Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004 which, among other measures, requires DHS to create a biometrics port of entry/exit data system which is interoperable with intelligence and law enforcement databases to serve as a platform from which terrorist data can be gathered, tracked, analyzed, and distributed to relevant parties (S. 2845, 2004). To that end, DHS is seeking to go a step beyond merely using biometrics and interoperability systems to passively gather data from foreign nationals applying for visas, green cards, work permits, and other immigration matters and move to actively gather, store and track biometrics data through capture and retention of biometrics data from foreign nationals as they pass through U.S. ports of entry as well as inputting that data into an interoperability system that intelligence/law enforcement communities can use to keep tabs of suspected terrorists. Such an encompassing system will satisfy Congressional mandate for an improved biometrics entry/exit data system and go beyond the requirement to produce our Nation’s first interoperability system that integrates biometrics data with a GIS capability to gather information on and keep track of movements of suspected terrorists moving through United States. 3. Objectives The logical question to ask after considering the daunting task DHS faces in identifying and tracking terrorists who attempt to enter United States is what must we do to solve this identified problem? The answer lies in devising an interoperability system that combines biometrics capture capability at ports of entry with a GIS capability that lets intelligence and law enforcement officials to identify and track suspected terrorists across U.S. The new system, TIDIS, will be composed of 3 parts: 1) a biometrics capture system combined with a CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) capability that captures image information from travelers as they pass thru U.S. ports of entry, 2) an interoperability data system that stores and analyzes captured information, enables multiple users/organizations to query its databases for information, and alerts users/organizations to identification of a suspected terrorists within U.S. borders, and 3) uses a GIS capability to track movements of identified suspected terrorists at U.S. ports of entry. In order to accomplish this feat, we identified several objectives that must be met in our pursuit of TIDIS. First, a test pilot program must be started at a port of entry (preferably an airport due to volume of passenger travel) that uses biometrics and CCTV capability to capture fingerprints and facial images from passengers. Second, biometrics and CCTV capture systems must be built at said port of entry at a checkpoint in such a way that is unobtrusive to passengers passing thru and which accurately and quickly captures biometrics data. Third, systems must be put into place to transfer captured biometrics data to a database that stores and analyzes information. Fourth, an interoperability system must be put into place that integrates captured biometrics data with existing databases such as US-VISIT (Visitor and Immigrant Status Identification Technology), IDENT (Automated Biometric Identification System) and IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) so that comparisons can be made with existing information (U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, 2005). Lastly, GIS system must be integrated with captured biometrics data and interoperability data system to track and notify movement of suspected terrorists. TIDIS must also work under the principles of “One Person, One Identity”, “Person Centric View”, and “Service Oriented Architecture” which 1) establish identity of an individual and connect it to already established information, 2) update and access all information on an individual as well as make that information available to decision-makers, and 3) integrate all “systems, standards, processes, procedures, and measurements around the delivery of information services” that TIDIS uses (U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, 2005, p.5). 4. Significance To fully understand the gravity of our outlined problem of identifying and tracking suspected terrorists within U.S. we must explain the significance of this problem and how TIDIS will help solve it. Namely, as previously stated, events of 9/11 have brought to light a serious issue within our Homeland Security domain of terrorists infiltrating our Nation and causing grave damage to our society and infrastructure. As it currently stands, it is extremely difficult to identify suspected terrorists that pass through our borders undetected unless they have come into contact with our immigration programs such as US-VISIT where their biometrics data is captured and compared with existing databases. Compounding the problem is the fact that most of our data systems that deal with biometrics data storage and analysis are not integrated or interoperable thus making coordination between intelligence and law enforcement communities in identifying and tracking suspected terrorists even more difficult. Finally, we currently have no capability to integrate captured biometrics data that identify a suspected terrorist and overlay that information against a GIS to track that terrorist’s movements throughout U.S. ports of entry for intelligence gathering purposes. The gravity of the situation is that unless we are able to identify and track suspected terrorists (across our borders) that bypass our immigration programs and coordinate our biometrics efforts between intelligence and law enforcement organizations, we face a prospect of a another catastrophe on scale of 9/11 – terrorists covertly and quietly infiltrating our Nation, traveling back and forth across our borders to set up and execute their plans of causing damage to our Nation. Through adoption of TIDIS we will greatly improve our terrorist detection and identification capability and be able to track suspected terrorists as they move across our borders as well as use that data to alert intelligence and law enforcement organizations to their movements. A fully designed and integrated biometrics and CCTV system that captures passenger data in form of fingerprints and facial images as they travel through port of entry checkpoints will be used to populate an interoperability data system which will analyze information and alert relevant organizations as well as track terrorist movements. This will significantly enhance DHS capabilities to identify and track suspected terrorists, and ultimately stop their plans before they carry out their terrorist attack. TIDIS will also satisfy DHS’s goals of improving our border security and intelligence gathering/analysis of terrorist operations within United States. 5. Methods To determine why TIDIS will be such an effective tool in identifying and tracking suspected terrorists as they pass through U.S. ports of entry we need to examine methods of our determinations for using a particular technology solution within our system. The process that encompasses TIDIS and which details how biometrics data is collected, stored, analyzed, integrated within an interoperability system, and finally relayed onto a GIS, is evaluated based on its relative usefulness in identifying and tracking suspected terrorists movements across U.S. borders. Within TIDIS, biometrics/CCTV capability is evaluated and approved on the fact that it will enable 1) expeditious collection of biometrics data that can be quickly compared to or added to existing data contained within various federal screening systems and biometrics information databases, 2) real-time comparison of passengers moving through biometrics checkpoint with data in various criminal/terrorist databases, and 3) a single identity for each individual across law enforcement/intelligence enterprise based on “One Person, One Identity” principle (National Science and Technology Council [U.S.], 2006). Interoperability data system functionality within TIDIS is evaluated and approved on the fact that it will enable a timely, secure and integrated access to multiple types of data, knowledge and expertise from a variety of interconnected federal databases, as well as allow seamless access to critical data across and within jurisdictional boundaries, regardless of which organizations operates and maintains the particular database being accessed (Letourneau, Dessureault, & Roy, 2004). Finally, GIS component of TIDIS will be evaluated and approved based on scalability of its geographic data creation software module, as well as management, dissemination, analysis and integration of biometrics data with geographic mapping capability (Environmental System Research Institute [Redlands, Calif.], 2001). 6. Personnel, Equipment and Facilities As part of our TIDIS project, we are also outlining necessary components that make up the system, mainly in form of equipment, personnel and facilities. Biometrics/CCTV component of TIDIS will be housed (per trial run) at Boston’s Logan International airport, passenger checkpoint #5 that connects departing gates with main terminal exit. Personnel required for operation of the Biometrics/CCTV component consist of (1) technical supervisor, (3) technical employees, (1) security director responsible for overall integrity of system, and (3) security personnel supervising passenger traffic through checkpoint. Biometrics/CCTV system equipment will consist of model XR-1000 which has following capabilities: 1) biometrics sensors that automatically adjust to environment lighting conditions to deliver optimal imaging, 2) fast collection (less than 15 seconds) of “rolled-equivalent fingerprints” from passengers passing through checkpoint, 3) incorporated “liveness detection”, 4) “self-sterilizing” contact fingerprint sensors, and 5) plug and play ability of its biometrics sensors (NSTC [U.S.], 2006, p.12). Exact number of personnel and XR-1000 system are necessary for minimum required operation of one biometrics/CCTV system at one checkpoint and will satisfy our trial run at Logan International airport. As it pertains to the data interoperability component of TIDIS, facilities that are needed are a 100 square feet of an office space that can house necessary servers (10), computers (7) and networking equipment (5) required for storage, analysis and dissemination of biometrics data received from checkpoint at Logan airport. Personnel required to man the space will consist of (21) technical workers working in 3 shifts (7 per shift), with a further requirement of (3) maintenance/troubleshooting specialists (1 per shift) and (3) shift supervisors (1 per shift) as well as overall director of operations. As it pertains to equipment, data interoperability component will consist of XF-1500 data system which has NCES (Network-Centric Enterprise Services) program capabilities in that it’s collected biometrics data would be rapidly disseminated to relevant organizations and biometrics data from various databases (such as US-VISIT) could be rapidly pulled and compared regardless of which organizations houses relevant information (Letourneau et al., 2004). XF-1500 would also have NCES-type core enterprise services such as “collaboration, messaging, security, discovery, mediation, enterprise systems management, user assistance, storage of the massive amount of information” being collected, as well as an application that serves as “infrastructure to host and organize the data” (Letourneau et al., 2004, p.19). Required number of personnel, particular dimensions for the host facility and XF-1500 data system are critical to conduct normal operations of this component of TIDIS which results in biometrics data interoperability and increased coordination of suspected terrorist intelligence gathering and analysis process. Final component of TIDIS, GIS capable module, will be housed within the same 100 square feet of office space as data interoperability component and will be tended to by a dedicated team of (5) technical workers with an overall GIS component supervisor, as well as (1) maintenance/troubleshooting specialist. In terms of equipment, GIS module will be comprised of XL-2000 GIS system (comprised of 3 servers and 1 interface unit) that provides following functionality (based on ArcGIS software) to overall TIDIS process: 1) “editing, analysis, modeling, and cutting-edge data models and management” and 2) “automation, modification, management, analysis and display of geodata” interlinked with collected and analyzed biometrics data (ESRI [Redlands, Calif.], 2001, p.13). Required number of personnel, host facility as well as XL-2000 GIS system are all necessary for optimal operation of TIDIS system because without GIS module capability we will be unable to track suspected terrorist movement across our borders and as they pass U.S. ports of entry. 7. Budget Making TIDIS program operational will require a significant upstart cost and a fiscal maintenance/operations budget. In estimating these costs we consulted with DHS’s finance division to provide the most accurate estimate for required budget. Thus, initial investment in TIDIS can be broken down by modules, where XR-1000 component will cost approximately 52 million dollars, XF-1500 component approximately 22 million dollars, and XL-2000 approximately 10 million dollars, with an overall TIDIS star-up cost of 84 million dollars. Further breaking down the cost, XF-1500 module’s servers will cost a total of 10 million dollars, computers 5 million dollars, and networking equipment a further 7 million dollars. Breaking down the cost of XL-2000 component, servers will cost approximately 7 million dollars and the interface unit a further 3 million dollars. TIDIS will also require a sizeable maintenance cost in terms of repair parts and cost of employee wages, namely approximately an average of 10 million dollars per Fiscal Year (FY) in maintenance/repair costs and further 25 million per FY in employee wages, for a total of approximately 35 million dollars for one FY. 8. Evaluation When designing TIDIS, we aimed to achieve our outlined objectives of: 1) establishing a test pilot program at airport to help us evaluate TIDIS capabilities, 2) build an accurate and fast biometrics/CCTV system that can covertly capture biometrics data from passengers moving through a checkpoint, 3) build a system to collect , store and analyze captured biometrics data, 4) create an interoperability system that can integrate biometrics data with various criminal/terrorism databases, and 5) integrate a GIS capability with interoperability data system and captured biometrics data. To evaluate our test pilot program we have to look at the overall design of the system and the 4 remaining objectives since they make up the TIDIS process. Thus, use of biometrics data will be evaluated based on how fast and accurately they can scan and identify persons from known databases, with ability to obtain a high percentage (at least 85% or better) of match requirements within top few results during a query (Nieto, Johnston-Dodds, & Simmons, 2002). Evaluation of biometrics capability is dependent on ability of biometrics system to accurately capture and match identified images/fingerprints from existing biometrics data. Ability of TIDIS to store, capture and analyze captured data will be evaluated on basis of how organized data is within biometrics database virtual warehouse (data is not repeated in multiple entries, data is complete, entries are not missing information, etc.) and how fast data can be retrieved using data mining applications (data retrieved within 2 minutes of initiating search). Data interoperability system component will be evaluated based on ease of integration and ability of biometrics database to be seamlessly integrated into existing databases (US-VISIT, etc.) and queried by various users. Expected benchmark is 100% interoperability with identified databases with which biometrics database will interact. GIS component of TIDIS will be evaluated based on accurate tracking of suspected terrorists within U.S. borders where expected benchmark will be ability of system to produce one entry at one location (suspected terrorist cannot be at multiple locations at once) as well as provide an accurate chronological sequence of one entry’s (one terrorist’s) movement throughout U.S. Overall, if test pilot program produces accurate matches for biometrics data, effectively stores and analyzes that information, seamlessly integrates the resulting database with known criminal/terrorist databases and maps a terrorist’s movement throughout U.S. with a high rate of success (greater than 90% of time) then TIDIS program will be a triumphant achievement for DHS. References Environmental System Research Institute (Redlands, Calif.) (2001). GIS for Homeland Security. Retrieved from http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/homeland_security_wp.pdf Intelligence Reform and Terrorist Prevention Act of 2004, S. 2845, 108th Cong. (2004). Letourneau, F., Dessureault, D, & Roy, J. (2004). Crisis Response Interoperability System: Enabling Multi-National and Multi-Agency Defence against Terrorism. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Research and Technology Organization. Retrieved from https://www-hsdl-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/?view&did=14058 National Science and Technology Council (U.S.) (2006). National Biometrics Challenge. Retrieved from https://www-hsdl-org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/?view&did=481001 Nieto, M., Johnston-Dodds, K., & Simmons, K. W. (2002). Public and Private Applications of Video Surveillance and Biometrics Technologies. California State Library. California Research Bureau. CRB 02-006. Retrieved from http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/02/06/02-006.pdf U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (2005). IDENT/IAFIS Interoperability. 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