Defense Dept. 'institutionalizing' use of biometrics.

• Author: Gray, Myra S.
• Position: GUEST COMMENTARY

The Defense Department is institutionalizing biometrics training for soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.

The organization in charge of this effort, the Defense Department's biometrics task force, conducts biweekly secure video teleconferences with war commanders who oversee operations Iraq and Afghanistan. "We enable our partners in the biometrics field to offer much-needed training," notes Lt. Col. Brian Hunt, chief of the military operations branch at the biometrics task force, or BTF, which is based in Arlington, Va.

Biometrics use crosses all services. The Army is using biometrics to assist in identifying detainees in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan and in differentiating friendly individuals from insurgents and terrorists.

In Afghanistan, the Marines are using fingerprint devices, iris scanners, and electronic databases to screen local residents applying for jobs requiring security clearances.

In 2007, some Iraqi personnel applying for selection into the Iraqi Police Academy were found to have biometrics that matched those of previously-identified terrorists and insurgents. Others were found to match felony records in the United States. The use of biometrics has thwarted security breaches.

"Interagency communication and compatibility greatly increases the use and feasibility of biometrics," said Lisa Swan, deputy director for integration at BTF. "As a result, there's been visible and measurable movement in the advancement of biometric technology in recent years."

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The Navy is developing equipment and policies to implement biometric technologies for foreign ship boarding--by scanning the biometric data of the crew and searching the data against the Defense Department's automated biometric identification system (ABIS) database.

The Air Force also uses biometrics for authentication and verification purposes, and to grant access to a select number of Air Force bases around the world. Handheld biometric devices can verify an individual's identity in less than one second, thus not only controlling access and attendance, but freeing up personnel and minimizing the time spent in this process.

Collection devices are increasingly becoming more sophisticated and visible in operations. Take for example, the biometric automated toolset (BAT) and the handheld interagency identity detection equipment (HIIDE).

The BAT is a laptop-based computer system deployed to collect biometric data and store it on a central server in a...