A new report created by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law & Social Policy at UC Berkeley School of Law predicts a price tag of at least $40 billion for a mandatory biometric employment verification card for all U.S. workers that would utilize either fingerprint or fingervein scans.

Additionally, the report finds other obstacles, such as potential infringements of civil liberties and the program’s inability to stop undocumented immigrants from being able to illegally work in the U.S. 

Global Industry Analysts Inc. released a report forecasting the outlook on the global smart card market to reach 10.9 billion units by 2015.

GIA credits the growth driven largely by major initiatives in the financial, government and security sectors, with the telecom sector at the way ahead of the pack as the largest end-user. Increasing usage of contactless technology, newer applications and mandatory EMV migration across countries are also major drivers boosting the global market for smart cards. 

Department of Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano and Transportation Security Administration Administrator John S. Pistole announced the expansion of TSA PreCheck, a passenger pre-screening initiative, to additional airports across the country following the program’s success at seven pilot locations.

With more than 336,000 passengers screened to date through TSA Pre Check lanes, this screening concept is designed to enhance security by enabling TSA to focus its efforts on passengers the agency knows less about while providing expedited screening for travelers who volunteer information about themselves prior to flying. 

BadgePass and Digital Identification Solutions have integrated BadgePass’s Identity Manager credentialing software with Digital’s EDIsecure XID 8300 Retransfer Printer for single step smart card encoding and card issuance.

Identity Manager is part of the BadgePass suite of security solutions that also includes Visitor Manager, Access Control and SmartReg. In Identity Manager, one can enroll user information and capture photos while also adding card information like card number and access privileges. 

A new Morpho company under the Safran group has been launched called MorphoTrust USA.

The new company, which was formed after the acquisition of three divisions and the headquarters of former biometrics developer L-1 Identity Solutions, will serve as an identity solutions provider dedicated to the U.S. market only. 

DigitalPersona released a new version of its Pro Enterprise authentication device. It now contains the ability to support a number of new authentication credentials, enabling organizations to mix and match the ways in which employees securely identify themselves to Microsoft Windows and other applications.

Pro Enterprise can work with PINs, passwords, smart cards, biometrics, contactless proximity cards and Bluetooth phones. 

The U.S. Government Printing Office designed and printed an FBI special events credential that was used at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis by public safety personnel.

GPO produced approximately 10,000 of these credentials at the agency’s production facility in Washington DC. The special event credentials were issued to approved public safety and security personnel from local, state, and federal agencies who required access to secure areas during major special events.