AETC to save money, boost security with ID system improvements

Department of the Air Force officer Monica Roberts examines the credentials of an individual at the Maxwell Boulevard gate. Air Education and Training Command plans to streamline the ID system this year to make it easier for people to register. (Air Force photo/Wendy Simonds)

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AETC to save money, boost security with ID system improvements

Published March 16, 2012
By Maj. Rosaire Bushey
Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs

RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Security forces throughout Air Education and Training Command are using technology improvements to make base access more secure while at the same time saving money and resources.

In 2010, the command began using a system called DBIDS, or Defense Biometric Identification System, to check IDs at base entry control points. According to Maj. Russell Waight, chief of integrated defense program and technology, the initial system was worth the effort.

"Since we started with DBIDS we've registered more than 300,000 people and we average about half a million scans per month," Waight said. "We are finding about 25,000 people every month who have expired ID cards, who aren't registered or who are barred from base. From a security standpoint, that's significant."

In 2012, DBIDS will get a command-wide upgrade that will significantly reduce security force's workload at visitor control centers and eliminate multiple satellite registration sites throughout AETC bases.

"Currently, when someone comes to a new base from a different region or when visitors or contractors come onto base, we have to run a check through state and federal databases when we register them into the system," Waight explained. "This takes about five to 10 minutes per person, which doesn't seem like a lot until you figure we've registered 300,000 people in 2011 alone. That's a lot of manhours and a lot of money."

When the new version of DBIDS comes online, it will eliminate the need for DOD-issued card holders to go to visitors centers by automatically registering the card into the DBIDS database when it's first scanned. The card will also be recognized CONUS-wide as opposed to the current system, which breaks the country into four regions.

"By the end of the year, DBIDS will be fully connected to the National Crime Information Center database, which will significantly reduce the number of manual queries performed by security forces daily," said Derrick Austin, AETC's DBIDS program manager. "We are moving toward total automation for proofing and vetting all personnel requesting access to our installations, which will increase our probability of stopping potential threats at the perimeter," he said.

As part of the upgrade, DBIDS workstations will also be consolidated from six stations to two.

"We're becoming a cost-conscious culture in how we field solutions," Austin said. "The bottom line is that we're going to protect the force - and we're going to do it more efficiently - to the tune of a projected savings of $130,000 annually in sustainment cost across the command."