Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has broadcast the growth of the Global Entry initiative — a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) pilot program that streamlines the screening process at airports for trusted travelers through biometric identification — to an 13 additional airports across the United States; Honolulu is one of the airports to be involved in this Global Entry expansion.
The extension starts August 24, 2009 and new Global Entry enrollment centers and kiosks will open at international airports in Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Honolulu, Las Vegas, Newark, N.J., Orlando, Fla., Sanford, Fla., Philadelphia, San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Francisco and Seattle.
Global Entry permits pre-approved members an another option to regular passport processing lines. At the kiosk, Global Entry members insert their passport or lawful permanent resident card into a document reader, provide digital fingerprints for comparison with fingerprints on file, answer customs declaration questions on the kiosk’s touch-screen, and then present a transaction receipt to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers before leaving the inspection area.
The new Global Entry system is projected to help reduce average wait times by 70 percent. Additionally, it is said that almost 75 percent of travelers can be processed in under five minutes. So far, Global Entry kiosks have been used more than 51,000 times at seven airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C., according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Expanding this vital program allows us to improve customer service at airports and concentrate our resources on higher-risk travelers,” Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
