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| As for the other
exotics, such as earlobe shape, the NGI will
have the architecture to extend to them
should the laws change. — Jim Loudermilk,
FBI |
| Image: Hrvoje
Knez/FOTOLIA |
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Tom Cruise, watch out. The
FBI’s planned biometric repository upgrade will improve the
system’s existing capability to store not only fingerprints but
also the iris scans which pinpointed Cruise’s character in the
2002 cinema spectacle “Minority Report,” in addition to more
futuristic identifiers.

FBI technologists are planning for upgrades that will buttress the
law enforcement community’s limited ability to use DNA as a
forensic tool, according to a recent briefing the bureau offered on
plans for its Next Generation Identification system. NGI is designed
to incorporate improved technology into the bureau’s Integrated
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).

The bureau plans within the next few weeks to request proposals from
vendors to build NGI. The agency already has described a phased plan
to roll out the upgrades to its existing biometric repository during
the next several years.

“DNA has definitely proven its ability to be fabulously
accurate,” said Jim Loudermilk, deputy assistant director at the
bureau’s Information Technology Operations Division. He cited
instances in which DNA evidence has exonerated prisoners, some of
whom had been held for decades or faced possible execution.

Many in the general public now believe that law enforcement agencies
can routinely use DNA to investigate crimes, Loudermilk told an
audience of vendor and government executives at an Industry Advisory
Council briefing.

But legal and policy barriers to widespread DNA biometric use work
together with the process’ high cost to limit its usefulness, he
said.

Another barrier is that existing DNA biometric repositories,
including IAFIS, simply don’t hold enough information to compete
with the more familiar fingerprint data, he said.

The costs for DNA sequencing now can range into the thousands of
dollars for a single forensic sample, Loudermilk said.

But FBI biometric experts estimate that the cost for collecting and
sequencing a DNA sample could fall well below $20 in about 15 years,
Loudermilk said.

Increased use of DNA as a biometric identifier also raises privacy
issues, the FBI official said.

“We are adding a palm print system,” [as part of the NGI
upgrade] Loudermilk said. He said the forensic community’s
experience with crime scenes has shown that palm print evidence is
frequently available. “The Japanese [police] have found palm
prints very useful.

“As for the other exotics, such as earlobe shape [and voice prints
and gait analysis], the NGI will have the architecture to extend to
them should the laws change,” Loudermilk said.

The FBI wants its NGI project to forge faster and higher-quality
links to biometric repositories other than those IAFIS now uses,
Loudermilk said.

“Dealing with other repositories has emerged as a major
problem,” he added. The FBI wants NGI to include upgrades such as
improved interoperability with the IDENT system the Homeland
Security Department operates to carry out many of its immigration
data processing functions.

The bureau’s IAFIS repository and associated systems already
exchange specified groups of fingerprints gathered from individuals
who qualify as the worst of the worst among immigration law
violators, known or suspected terrorists ,and similar wrongdoers.

Get more fingers
DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff has mandated that IDENT end its
practice of gathering only two fingerprints and shift to the
bureau’s 10-fingerprint approach. That change will improve
interoperability between the department’s system and IAFIS.

The bureau’s biometric technologists have consulted with their
counterparts abroad to help develop regional biometric information
repositories, Loudermilk said. For example, some Middle Eastern
countries seek to build a regional biometric database of criminals
and other social enemies, and the bureau has advised them, he said.

In addition, the bureau now serves in effect as the global center
for evaluating fingerprint-reading equipment.

Loudermilk presented a history of the bureau’s biometric
approaches to fingerprint acquisition, storage and processing dating
from the early 1900s in addition to an explanation of how the agency
developed its current biometric systems.

Loudermilk’s personal involvement as the FBI executive responsible
for design, development, installation and adoption of IAFIS gave
weight to his review of these topics.

He mentioned several features the FBI plans to add to NGI to upgrade
its operations from IAFIS, including:
- Increased capacity, because IAFIS now is conducting
fingerprint checks at a rate far above its original design
rating.
- An upgraded fingerprint identification engine, based on a
study that the winning vendor will be required to conduct of
commercial products in the field and other approaches to the
task.
- Reduced response time for additional categories of fingerprint
checks.
Loudermilk said existing technology for reliably matching the mug
shot photographs that police agencies take of people they arrest is
nowhere near as mature as fingerprint-matching technology.

IAFIS’ original design called for the system to process 62,500
fingerprint matches daily.

As a result of increased demand — especially for background checks
mandated by civil laws covering employees in the financial,
child-care and educational fields — among others, IAFIS’ busiest
day called for the system to process about 114,000 checks.

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