NEWSLETTER

Recommendations

Info

Biometrics I nterview Quest ion: US-VISIT was a program started after 9/11. How did US-VISIT evolve to OBIM today? What is the biggest impact that OBIM has had on U.S. national security so far? Kennet h: The US-VISIT Program was created in 2003 to develop an entry/exit system for the United States, and to serve as a biometric service provider to the immigration components of DHS, also created in 2003, through the operation of the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), the central DHS repository for matching, storing, and sharing biometric and associated biographic information. Over time, as the use of biometric identification was expanded, US-VISIT?s mission grew beyond its original mandate. In March 2013, Congress recognized OBIM as the Department?s designated provider of enterprise level biometric identity services to customers within DHS, other stakeholders in the U.S. Government, and partner nations. OBIM is different than US-VISIT in that we now operate with a clear view of our role as a service provider supporting stakeholders on the front lines of homeland security. There are some legacy US-VISIT functions that no longer reside within OBIM, such as biographic entry/exit and overstay analysis. These functions were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), respectively. The biggest impact that OBIM has had on U.S. national security stems from improvements in interoperability and information sharing that directly support four key Homeland Security Missions: Prevent Terrorism and Enhance Securit y; Secure and Manage Our Borders; Enforce and Administ er Our Immigrat ion Laws; and St rengt hen Nat ional Preparedness and Resilience. IDENT now stores approximately 204.7 million unique identities. It processes on average more than 280,000 biometric transactions a day, more than 130,000 of which come from CBP as daily U.S. entry transactions. Automated interoperability between IDENT and the Federal Bureau of Investigation?s (FBI) Next Generation Identification (NGI) biometric repository amplifies the effectiveness of the two systems. OBIM also conducts searches and transactions for the U.S. Department of State, and continues to work toward automated interoperability with the U.S. Department of Defense?s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS). In September 2014, OBIM and the FBI?s Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) established a direct system link between IDENT and the TSC?s Terrorist Screening Database, enabling faster, more efficient sharing of biometric information for the identification of known or suspected terrorists (KST). Finally, OBIM shares information with Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom through the Five Country Conference. These collaborations vastly increase the value of OBIM?s biometric identity services. Quest ion: What effort does OBIM make to ensure privacy of those individuals who get enrolled in IDENT? Kennet h: Privacy plays an integral part of OBIM?s biometric services from conception through the planning, development, and execution of its systems and processes. The organization has a dedicated privacy team to ensure that privacy protections are built into its programs and systems to make the safeguarding of personal information a priority. Personal information is used only for the purposes for which it is collected, unless specifically authorized or mandated by law. OBIM monitors its systems and has security practices in place to protect the privacy of those whose data are collected, and to ensure the integrity of that data. Kennet h D. Gant t is the Deputy Director of the Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) within the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). OBIM is the lead entity for biometric identity management services. Mr. Gantt?s responsibilities include working with OBIM?s customers, stakeholders, and DHS mission partners to expand the program?s services to ensure a safe, secure, and resilient homeland.
Biometrics I nterview All sharing of personal information is authorized by law and governed, as appropriate, by information sharing agreements that ensure compliance with privacy requirements. OBIM also conducts privacy impact assessments, which provide a transparent view of the personal information maintained and how that information is used, shared, and stored. All OBIM personnel and users of the program?s data are responsible and accountable for treating personally identifiable information in accordance with the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPS). Quest ion: Could you list three desired advancements in the biometrics technologies that would allow for OBIM?s biometric identification services to operate more efficiently and effectively? Kennet h: OBIM works each day with its customers and other stakeholders to pursue faster, more efficient, cost effective, and accurate biometric identity services. Three technological advancements in this realm would include the ability to utilize multiple hardware and software solutions; offer advanced reporting; and make use of different storage and retention needs, as we don?t need all of our records in an active mode. More generally, a fourth advancement would involve greater use of multimodal biometrics, including iris and face. While IDENT continues to perform well, it is more than two decades old, and OBIM is planning for its replacement with a new and more robust system, the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART). HART promises a more flexible and scalable architecture that will more efficiently support core DHS missions and operations with multimodal capabilities, more efficient system processing, increased capacity and storage, and web portal access and web services. A good example of a recent technological advancement that had a significant impact on national security was as follows: "At U.S. air port s of ent ry, t he t ime needed for CBP t o send a request on an individual t o IDENT and NGI and receive a response used t o t ake bet ween 24 and 72 hours, meaning t hat t he individual had left t he airport by t he t ime t he response arrived. A program called Rapid Response compressed t his t urnaround t ime t o 15 seconds, allowing CBP t o det ermine t he admissibilit y of individuals in real t ime. Over t he last 12 mont hs, IDENT has processed 1.42 million Rapid Response searches. " Quest ion: One of the major vulnerabilities of a biometric system is presentation of a spoof or an altered biometrics sample. What is OBIM?s position on this issue? Kennet h: OBIM watches for those individuals who try to impede law enforcement or obtain unwarranted privileges and benefits by spoofing biometric systems. While IDENT returns an automated answer for the vast majority of biometric queries, about 2,000 sets of fingerprints a day must be resolved by fingerprint examiners in OBIM?s Biometric Support Center (BSC). These highly trained professionals provide OBIM?s best defense against spoofing. Analyzing prints on high-definition work stations, BSC experts can identify the markers of altered biometrics, as well as areas that have not been altered. The BSC furnishes assured biometric identification services 24 hours a day, including 10-print comparisons and verification, unknown deceased identifications, latent print comparisons, and enrollment of biometric records from law enforcement and intelligence agencies. CALL FOR ARTICLES The editor ial boar d of IEEE Biometr ics Council New sletter invites shor t ar ticles r elated to - Recent new s r elated to biometr ics - Job-posting including PhD/PostDoc positions, - Biometr ics Database - Open Sour ce Code Please send the shor t ar ticles to: hugomcp@di.ubi.pt
Page 1 and 2: NEWSLETTER Volume 22, 2017 Content
Page 3: Biometrics News Propriet ary Finger
Page 7 and 8: Paper Summary Overview: Cardiovascu
Page 9 and 10: Conference Report - BI OSI G 2016 T
Page 11: Calender Call for Proposal for IEEE

NEWSLETTER

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?