Article completely wrong...
Having worked on the bid for this in the past, I can tell you that this article is abdolutely wrong, while I hace pretty much zero respect for the consortium that is delivering this system, what I canntell you is that the hard part of the system is that the only time you can check a persons identity documents in the EU is at the check in desk and that the system and it's precursor (Semaphore - pilot system) do just that, it means you can buy a ticket at the airport, eurostar or ferry terminal on the day of travel and you only need to prove your ID when you commence travel.
What this means from a requirements perspective is that e-Borders has to get a go/no go decision about an individuals right to travel to the UK while they are stood at the desk, the system has less than 5 seconds to communicate this decision back to the airline check in desk. The system stops working and queues result.
When e-Borders makes a decision about a passenger, the system checks the passengers identity against a number of watchlists, some watchlists imply instructions on sctions to take, there are 4 types of action:
1. Deny Access to UK
2. Apprehend on arrival to UK
3. Arrange surveilance of traveller on arrival in UK
4. Pass unimpeded
e-Borders has to arrange for the relevant authority to carry out actions 2&3 while the passenger is in transit so that the action can take place on arrival in the UK.
The Americans attempt to do similar things with their US-Visit system except they dont have the requirement to check documents at the desk, instead they request passport numbers 24 hours in advance of travel so they can deny travel, detain or set up surveilance, this is why Britain couldn't just take the US system, which was also designed by Raytheon.