By Julia Ainsley Source: NBC News Photo Source: Unsplash, Nation Cancer Institute
\ ˌbī-ō-ˈme-triks \
Definition of biometrics
: BIOMETRY
: the measurement and analysis of unique physical or behavioral characteristics (such as fingerprint or voice patterns) especially as a means of verifying
personal identity
Biometrics
Biometrics are unique physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, that can be used for automated recognition. At the Department of Homeland Security, biometrics are used to detect and prevent illegal entry into the U.S., grant and administer proper immigration benefits, vetting and credentialing, facilitating legitimate travel and trade, enforcing federal laws, and enabling verification for visa applications to the U.S.
DHS provides biometric identification services to protect the Nation through its Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM), which supplies the technology for matching, storing, and sharing biometric data. OBIM is the lead designated provider of biometric identity services for DHS, and maintains the largest biometric repository in the U.S. government.
This system, called the Automated Biometric Identification System or IDENT, is operated and maintained by OBIM. IDENT currently holds more than 260 million unique identities and processes more than 350,000 biometric transactions per day.
Through biometric interoperability with the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Justice (DoJ), DHS shares critical biometric information using advanced data filtering and privacy controls to support the homeland security, defense, and justice missions. https://www.dhs.gov/biometrics
Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance.
Biometric identifiers are the distinctive, measurable characteristics used to label and describe individuals. Biometric identifiers are often categorized as physiological characteristics, which are related to the shape of the body. Examples include, but are not limited to fingerprint, palm veins, face recognition, DNA, palm print, hand geometry, iris recognition, retina and odor/scent. Behavioral characteristics are related to the pattern of behavior of a person, including but not limited to typing rhythm, gait, keystroke, signature, behavioral profiling, and voice. Some researchers have coined the term 'behaviometrics' to describe the latter class of biometrics.[1]
More traditional means of access control include a driver's license or passport, and knowledge-based identification systems, such as a password or personal identification number. Since biometric identifiers are unique to individuals, they are more reliable in verifying identity than token and knowledge-based methods; however, the collection of biometric identifiers raises privacy concerns about the ultimate use of this information.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics
An intelligence cell run by DHS will expand biometric data collection from migrants and monitor social media disinformation that may spur mass migrant movements.
WASHINGTON — Planning is underway at the Department of Homeland Security to build an intelligence-gathering cell that would more closely monitor and better predict the movements of groups of migrants to the U.S., such as the nearly 30,000 Haitians who arrived in Texas last month, according to a copy of the plans obtained by NBC News.
The new cell, to be operational by the end of the month, would supply the agency with “indications and warnings” of possible migrant surges by collecting intelligence from DHS personnel in Central and South America, seek to establish aerial surveillance of trucks and migrant camps massing on borders and increase communication with the U.S. intelligence community and law enforcement agencies in other countries, according to the planning document.
With that information in hand, the officials said, DHS could then allocate resources to areas of the border where surges are expected and counter messages spread by cartels and those on social media who falsely claim that the U.S. will allow all migrants arriving now to stay.
Another senior DHS official, explaining that the U.S. strategy is to counter false messages before migrants embark on dangerous journeys, said, “Once they’re in Mexico, it’s too late.”
The collection and dissemination of intelligence about migration movements used to fall to DHS’ Office of Intelligence and Analysis, two current and two former DHS officials said, but the office stopped regularly creating reports about migrant movements during the Trump administration.
The two former officials, who worked in the Trump administration, said that the office was largely weakened during the previous administration but that Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did much of their own intelligence-gathering.
But the two current officials said the Biden administration has had to rebuild the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis so that all parts of DHS get the same reliable information about groups that might be coming to the U.S. border in real time.
“The Trump administration’s almost singular focus on building a border wall as the solution to stopping illegal migration and illegal drugs from coming into the country actually resulted in the opposite. It allowed key intelligence and operational capabilities to atrophy,” one of the officials, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, said on the condition of anonymity.
Senior leaders at CBP, ICE, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Coast Guard met Wednesday to solidify the plans, the officials said.
In the short term, each agency would supply personnel to the cell, operating out of Washington, to gather information about waves of migrants who might soon be making their way to the U.S., the officials said. Part of their mission will be to build and monitor algorithms that can monitor social media chatter about migration movements. Often, immigrants communicate by Facebook and WhatsApp to organize.
In the long term, according to other documents obtained by NBC News, DHS would collect more biometric data about migrants as they cross borders on the way to the U.S. so more is known about who might soon be approaching the U.S. border, the documents say.
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis would also work with countries like Colombia, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico to enter into agreements that would allow for more intelligence, surveillance and recognizance, according to the copy of the plans, significantly increasing the amount of both human and signals intelligence DHS gathers in the region.
The goal is to “institutionalize” the intelligence-gathering systems so future administrations cannot dismantle them, the officials said.
A DHS spokesperson confirmed the plans to NBC News. “DHS recently developed a new analytic effort that combines law enforcement and intelligence resources to improve our ability to operationally prepare for large numbers of migrants that may arrive along the southwest border. This critical initiative — which is led by the Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the United States Coast Guard — will strengthen existing efforts such as Operational Sentinel that counter transnational criminal organizations, including those that smuggle illicit narcotics and migrants across the border.”
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who has sued the Biden administration over its policies that keep asylum-seekers from entering the country, said increasing surveillance of immigrants is a step in the wrong direction.
“Rather than creating a surveillance system to deter migrants seeking protection, the administration ought to focus on complying with its legal and moral obligation to provide desperate asylum-seekers with a hearing,” Gelernt said.
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