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US wants more fingerprints
13/01/2008 19:05 - (SA)
Atlanta - International visitors who fly into the United States through its busiest airport will have to give more fingerprints than they used to.
US officials on Friday unveiled a new fingerprint collection programme at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport - the second US airport now using the system.
The initiative, called US-VISIT, will collect all fingerprints of each visitor for increased security. In the previous system, screeners took only two fingerprints.
Robert C Gomez, director of field operations for US Customs and Border Protection, said the 10-print system will give feedback faster than the old system did.
In Atlanta, 10 000 to 15 000 international visitors will be screened each day.
The system, a co-operative effort between Homeland Security, the State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, went on line at Dulles International Airport in Washington in December, officials said.
- AP
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