Fingerprint system to catch terrorists may take years

WASHINGTON -- A fingerprint system viewed as a critical tool for catching suspected terrorists trying to enter the United States won't be up and running for years, the Justice Department's inspector general said Friday.

The system's projected costs have ballooned to an estimated $1.2-billion and could rise to $1.9-billion, according to a report by the inspector general's office, an investigation and auditing division that looks into waste, fraud and abuse at the department.

Deployment has been bogged down by field tests ordered by the Justice Department, even though three studies have already concluded the system can be built, the report said.

The 2-year-old project, ordered by Congress after the 1999 "Railway Killer" case, will merge the now-separate fingerprint files of the FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service to ensure that FBI suspects don't slip through cracks in border enforcement.

"The department and its components have moved slowly toward integration of the two fingerprint systems," said Glenn A. Fine, inspector general. "In light of the events of Sept. 11, the need for linkage is more critical than ever."

Gina Talamona, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the department was still reviewing the inspector general's report and couldn't comment on it.

Congress ordered the department to create the system after border agents picked up but failed to detain a Mexican man wanted by the FBI in connection with nine murders along rail lines. Angel Maturino Resendiz, who used the alias Rafael Resendez-Ramirez and became known as the "Railway Killer," killed four people before he surrendered in July 1999. He was charged in seven of the murders.

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