PRESS RELEASE
To:
Home Office
OIG
(re US-VISIT)
IDABC
(re OSCIE)
China
(re Golden Shield)
Pakistan
(re NADRA)
FBI
(re NGI)
UIDAI
(re Aadhaar)
Agencies
Brodie Clark and the scoop the media
missed
9
January 2012
It
was such an easy story to write when the pack was let loose last November.
Brodie Clark had endangered us all by suspending biometric checks at the
border.
It
was so easy that, when Brodie Clark gave evidence to the Home Affairs Committee,
no-one noticed the bombshell he smuggled in.
Border
security in the UK, the control of migration and the safety of the 2012 Olympics
all depend, we are told by the UK Border
Agency, on biometric checks. Hundreds of millions of pounds of public
money – your money and mine – have been spent since the coalition government
came to power on security systems which depend for their success on the
biometrics used being reliable.
And
what did Brodie Clark say? In a six-minute passage of his testimony, between 12:18 and 12:24 on 15 November 2011, he said
that the fingerprint check is the least reliable security/identity check
available at the border, it is the ninth and bottom priority for officers of the
Border Force and when push comes to shove (literally) in the marshalling areas
for airport arrivals, it is “very sensible” to suspend fingerprint checks, that
is a practice of his former staff, he was
at pains to emphasise, that he approved at the time and still approves
of.
To
paraphrase, Theresa May is quite right to be furious, but not with Brodie Clark.
Her fury should properly be directed at the credulous
adoption of expensive technology that doesn’t work. That is what threatens the
security of the border and the control of migration and the safety of the
Olympics.
It’s
a major story. And the media missed it.
Luckily,
the opportunity will soon be with us for the media to make good. Some time in
the next few weeks John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border
Agency, will present his report on the Brodie Clark affair to the Home
Office.
All
eyes on John Vine and that report of his. Let’s get it right this
time.
For
background briefing, please see:
About Business
Consultancy Services Ltd (BCSL):
BCSL has operated as an IT consultancy since 1984. The past 9 years have been spent campaigning against the Home Office's plans to introduce government ID cards into the UK. It must now be admitted that the Labour government 1997-2010 were much better at convincing people that these plans are a bad idea than anyone else, including BCSL.
BCSL has operated as an IT consultancy since 1984. The past 9 years have been spent campaigning against the Home Office's plans to introduce government ID cards into the UK. It must now be admitted that the Labour government 1997-2010 were much better at convincing people that these plans are a bad idea than anyone else, including BCSL.
Press
contacts: David Moss, BCSL@blueyonder.co.uk
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