The 'Swiss Army Knife' Approach to Border Control: Multitasking in a Multi-threat World

Abstract

The Border Control community uses a number of skills, techniques and technologies to achieve its objectives: everything from the skilled eye, ear and feel of the border officer to sophisticated data, image and biometric analytics. These are often used singly or in small combinations or at different stages. What might a border control system look like which used a larger number of near-simultaneous scans, checks and queries on each passenger? And how might it be evaluated? This paper examines what a 'Swiss Army Knife', multi-tool approach to border, visas and internal migration control might involve and how this multi-tool approach might solve a number of common problems. It briefly touches on the erasing of boundaries between traditional 'immigration' information systems and those of port security, carrier reservations, economic and demographic statistics, police and counter-terrorism agencies.