ASHINGTON, Nov. 21 — The Homeland Security Department has decided to stop a program that required thousands of Arab and Muslim men to register with immigration authorities after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said on Friday.

Hoping to hunt down terrorists, immigration officials fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed 85,000 Muslim and Arab noncitizens from November 2002 to May 2003 under the program. The effort, the largest to register immigrants in decades, required annual reporting. Men from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria began going to immigration offices for a second round of registrations this month.

Officials have acknowledged that most of the Arabs and Muslims who have complied with the requirements had no ties to terrorist groups. Of the 85,000 men who went to immigration offices early this year, as well as tens of thousands screened at airports and border crossings, 11 had links to terrorism, officials said.

The program was sharply criticized by civil liberties groups and advocates for immigrants. The critics said it did little to find terrorists and alienated the very communities that could help uncover terrorists. Advocates for immigrants have also complained that immigration officials have done little to publicize the second round, touching off waves of confusion and anxiety.

Government officials said questions had arisen about the effectiveness of the program. They said an announcement about ending it might be made as early as next week.

A spokesman for the Homeland Security Department, William Strassberger, would not confirm any decisions on program, but acknowledged that it was being reviewed to determine whether it should end. The decision to discontinue the program, known as special registration, was first reported in The Washington Post.

"We're continuing to evaluate the special registration program for its effectiveness and efficiency and whether this is the best use of resources," Mr. Strassberger said.

He said the program might be superseded by an effort in which immigration officials at 115 airports and 14 seaports will begin collecting digital fingerprints and photographs from foreign visitors who enter the United States with visas. That program, which is scheduled to begin in January, is not be specifically directed at Muslims and Arabs, he said.

Well, my globetrotting buddy, just in case you might be contemplating taking off into some wild yonder, be informed that soon you will have to wipe the smile off your Canadian passport photo, or the new biometric facial recognition cameras won't be able to recognize if you are a terrorist or just a plain old shmuck. But the technology is still being tested, so you may still be able to take a trip or two smiling.

Here in the blessed States though, airline passengers soon will be categorized by level of security risk by CAPPS II (not the cartoon artist). The Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II will code each of us bold enough to take a flight based on our city of departure (room for a good joke here), destination (Peshawar? blinkblinkblink), traveling companion (no beards, please), date of ticket purchase (why the big hurry?) and whether the traveller paid with cash instead of a credit card (if you don't want your identity stolen and thus carry cash, we must keep an eye on you!) - and so forth.

If you're lucky enough to be coded green, you might pass through security easily; if you are yellow brace yourself for more screening. Red? Forget getting on the plane: off we are to a little police interview. . . . .

Have nice trip.