Abstract: A portable, hand-held personal identification device for providing secure access to a host facility includes a biometric sensor system capable of sensing a biometric trait of a user that is unique to the user and providing a biometric signal indicative of the sensed biometric trait. A processing unit responsive to the biometric signal is adapted to compare the biometric signal with stored biometric data representative of the biometric trait of an enrolled person that is unique to the enrolled person, and to provide a verification signal only if the biometric signal corresponds sufficiently to the biometric data to verify that the user is the enrolled person. The verification signal includes information indicative of the enrolled person or the device. A communication unit, including a transmitting circuit, is adapted to transmit the verification signal to a host system.