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GCN Home > 07/05/04 issue

Another View: Who goes there? Biometrics can make positive ID

By John Woodward, Special to GCN

(REVISED) In the global war on terrorism, the military faces a highly mobile terrorist foe that deliberately conceals its true allegiance.

That means the military must strive for identity dominance by linking a so-called Red Force member—a detainee or similar national security threat—to previously used identities and past activities.

To tell friend from foe, we must have answers to these questions:
  • Has the person been previously arrested in the United States or other countries?
  • Has the person used aliases or fraudulent documents?
  • Has the person previously been refused entry into the United States?
  • Has the person been linked to terrorism by, for example, fingerprints found on the remnants of an improvised explosive device or being seen in a crowd committing terrorist acts?
To the extent the military is forced to rely solely on purported names or official-looking documents, we will never get reliable answers to these questions.

To get reliable answers, the military, working with other agencies such as the Homeland Security Department, must fully use the power of biometric traits. Reliable answers to these questions will help us identify people who are national security threats.

Reliable answers will keep our personnel safer. We will gain information to detect and deter terrorists, and we will have legally admissible evidence to prosecute them.

The military, working with other agencies, must begin to collect, transmit, store and share biometric data to achieve fundamental identity dominance. DHS also is working to achieve this goal with its U.S. Visit virtual border program.

We must be able to compare biometric data against all relevant U.S. and international databases for matches with previously used names and past activities.

We must process the data using an interoperable enterprise approach that spans military theaters and services, offers numerous functions and uses several biometric identifiers.

The Defense Department took a significant step in February when it began requiring that all military units taking electronic fingerprints from Red Force members must comply with an internationally accepted standard.

Tenprints

By taking 10 rolled fingerprints, or tenprints, that meet the standard, the military can search fingerprint data against relevant databases, including the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System. IAFIS contains the full tenprints of 47 million individuals arrested for felony offenses.

All viable automated fingerprint identification systems used by law enforcement agencies worldwide are based on 10 rolled fingerprints taken to the standard. This interoperability means that prints collected from detainees can be searched against databases of prints from tens of millions of individuals.

More news on related topics: Biometrics, Homeland Security