INTERPOL Washington Assists the Kyrgyz Republic to Enhance Border Security

INTERPOL Washington—INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB), recently partnered with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism to increase the Kyrgyz Republic’s capacity to share critical information with INTERPOL. Through Project TERMINUS, funded by the Bureau of Counterterrorism, the Kyrgyz Republic implemented technical solutions to establish a Domestic Stolen and Lost Travel Document (SLTD) database (DSD) and automate uploading of Kyrgyz SLTD records to INTERPOL’s global database. This INTERPOL database serves as a searchable repository containing more than 120 million records accessible to law enforcement and border security authorities in all 195 INTERPOL member countries.

The DSD solution enabled the Kyrgyz Republic to quickly and easily establish a robust and feature-rich authoritative national database of SLTD records. The DSD allows the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) Bishkek to easily manage their SLTD records, improving accuracy and timeliness of Kyrgyz Republic SLTD data, and eliminating countless hours of administrative effort.   The SLTD Uploader software solution automates the submission and management of the country’s SLTD records to the INTERPOL SLTD searchable database. The data management and automation solution was made possible by computer hardware and custom software developed, provided, and installed by the USNCB’s Border Security Division. This accomplishment is the culmination of more than twelve months of active collaboration between the USNCB, the U.S. State Department, and the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Project TERMINUS technical team made several enhancements to its Domestic SLTD Database (DSD) application to accommodate the unique requirements and incredible volume of the more than 5.7 million SLTD records maintained by the government.  Furthermore, within the first days of the deployment, the new Kyrgyz SLTD solutions had created more than 150,000 new SLTD records in INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database.

“Project TERMINUS continues to assist INTERPOL member countries to enhance their border security screening capacity.  The TERMINUS model has been used on four continents providing advanced border security tools necessary to detect and deter transnational criminals. Our partnership with the Department of State is a key component in closing security gaps between countries and continents. Border security is a collective responsibility among nations, and is only as strong as its weakest link.  The USNCB is proud to help strengthen these links through our cooperative efforts,” said USNCB Director Michael A. Hughes.

This project is the latest in a series of successful information sharing and INTERPOL connectivity efforts deployed under the Project TERMINUS initiative, each building on prior lessons learned.  In addition to the Kyrgyz Republic, partner nations currently receiving assistance under Project TERMINUS include Indonesia, Maldives, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, and Uzbekistan.

Established in 2015, Project TERMINUS is a partnership between the USNCB’s Border Security Division and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Counterterrorism.  The mission of Project TERMINUS is to extend INTERPOL's I-24/7 secure, global police-to-police communications network to partner nations worldwide to prevent, detect, and deter foreign terrorist fighter (FTF) travel.

INTERPOL’s SLTD database is a critical tool for combatting terrorism by preventing FTF movements by identifying and interdicting FTFs and other transnational criminals using stolen, lost, or revoked documents such as passports, visas, and identity documents.  By ensuring that law enforcement officers have access to INTERPOL’s I-24/7 system, frontline authorities can search, and cross-check traveler data in a matter of seconds and share sensitive or urgent police information with their counterparts around the world in real-time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A component of the U.S. Department of Justice, INTERPOL Washington, the U.S. National Central Bureau (USNCB), is the designated United States representative to INTERPOL on behalf of the Attorney General. It serves as the national point of contact and coordination for all INTERPOL matters, coordinating international investigative efforts among member countries and the more than 18,000 local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement agencies.