UK Border Agency IT processes to be investigated

Illegal entry of Islamic activist prompts review of IT processes

The UK Border Agency will have its IT processes investigated by the Home Office after it failed to deny activist Sheikh Raed Salah entry into the country.

Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, caused embarrassment to the UK's border control agencies by strolling through Heathrow airport, having previously been banned from the country.

The debacle has been blamed on the agency's inefficient paper-based processes.

"This failing comes from two fundamental flaws: an insufficiently flat structure and a startling reliance on notoriously unreliable paper-based processes," said Peter Forrest, managing director of IT security specialist firm DPM Systems.

He added that the Home Office seems to suffer from superfluous levels of management, borne out of poorly-conceived collaboration efforts that create new obstacles to productivity and effectiveness.

"Combine this with an inability to share information because of a determination to use paper-based systems on the front line and a lack of technical integration, and security is rapidly undermined," said Forrest.

"The only solution to preventing future security disasters is to ensure that all relevant agencies have access to shared, real-time information."