Technology Spotlight: Focus on Security

In a rapidly shifting international climate, the UK leads the world in developing innovative security solutions by leveraging technology to secure borders – while protecting those who reside within them. 

Technology that Travels with You

When Sir David Manning, the British Ambassador to the United States, received his new European-style passport last October, it became an important symbol in a race the UK has led for some time. His passport marked the U.S. launch of a European pilot program to test and deliver a biometric passports – state-of-the-art devices designed to help secure borders and ease the travel of foreign visitors. Developed through collaboration by the British and U.S. governments, the chip-embedded passports bear unique personal features – like facial image, fingerprint, and iris – that can be scanned to help definitively identify the passport holder.

The United Kingdom is one of twenty-seven nations that hold a special visa-free status with the United States and are required to issue biometric passports by October 2006. Having tested diplomatic and official passports nearly a year in advance, the United Kingdom is leading the field in applying innovative technology to make international travel as safe and efficient as possible.

 

Bringing Innovation to Law Enforcement

The United Kingdom has made a commitment to fighting crime with innovation and technology – having recently launched a 4,000-mind law enforcement agency with a 21st century approach. A joint initiative of the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service, HM Revenue and Customs and the UK Immigration Service, the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) faces the dynamic mission of facing down some of the UK’s most serious threats to public safety and security.

As organized criminals become more sophisticated in the ways they perpetuate immigration crimes, fraud, money-laundering and drug trafficking, law enforcement and intelligence agencies must respond with increasingly innovative measures. SOCA is committed to employing technology to bolster intelligence, anticipate actions and generate solutions to identify – and apprehend – this most serious criminal element. In its first few months, SOCA has already made a tremendous impact. Over the next two years, SOCA aims to dislocate existing criminal markets while making the UK noticeably more unattractive for criminal activity; increase recovery of criminal assets; improve lifetime management of serious offenders; and improve knowledge and understanding of the SOCA mission to bolster support from various law enforcement agencies.

In an environment in which threats and targets change every day, it’s an aggressive plan. But with the creation of SOCA, the UK is leading the world in developing innovative technologies to stay one step ahead of serious criminals.

Security in a Modern World

The UK has prioritized global security in its foreign and domestic policies.  Though innovation and creativity, we are working to build a world that is safe from terror but allows for personal freedoms and mobility.  In an accelerating world, security starts with science.