Obama may spend a billion on biometrics

By Alice LipowiczJan 07, 2009
The Obama administration is likely to spend $750 million to $1 billion on biometric applications this year, primarily in defense, intelligence and homeland security, according to a new report from Jeremy Grant, an analyst for the Stanford Group Co. research firm.

Key programs at the Defense Department could result in $500 million to $600 million in biometrics contracts, and intelligence programs could add another $250 million to $350 million, Grant said.

Other major programs contributing to the growth include the Homeland Security Department’s U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology and Real ID Act of 2005, the FBI’s Next Generation Identification and Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12, he said.

“U.S. identity solutions projects should survive intact through the presidential transition and the industry should continue to do well in the Obama administration,” Grant wrote.

“Still, the distractions of the transition -– magnified by the economic crisis -– will slow some projects and delay the creation of new ones. We forecast flat government spending for 2009 outside of several key programs, as a new administration takes a year to review and reshape existing initiatives.”



About the Author

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer for Washington Technology.

Facing TWIC criticism, TSA temporarily allows alternate ID at ports

Truck drivers and other workers who have wrangled with aggressive enforcement at many ports for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential may get extra time to fully comply – at least for a few weeks.

The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that certain ports are allowing port access if workers present acceptable identification and proof that their TWIC card has been printed and is ready for activation.

The new temporary system will revert back to mandatory TWIC card possession for unescorted access through port-defined “secure areas,” with different deadlines for each of three groups of ports.

The first group will be allowed to use the temporary ID system until Dec. 22, including ports located in “Captain of the Port Zones: Boston, Northern New England, Southeastern New England, Cape Fear River, Corpus Christi, TX, North Carolina, Buffalo, NY; Detroit; Duluth, MN; Lake Michigan; Sault Ste. Marie, MI; Charleston, SC; Long Island Sound; Jacksonville, FL; and Savannah, GA.

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Will biometrics measure up to the future?

By Cherise Fong
For CNN

(CNN) -- Who could forget the scene from Tsui Hark's 1997 B-movie "Double Team," where an imprisoned Jean-Claude Van Damme scrapes the skin off his index finger, attaches it to an impromptu mechanical contraption and booby-traps it to hit the scanner at precisely the scheduled time each morning, so that his captors don't notice his escape? Full Story Here