OBIM to begin collecting data on new biometric tech in wake of problems

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) is seeking comments regarding its request for approval from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to begin collecting a new dataset on biometric sensors.

This new data collection effort comes on the heels of repeated delays and problems standing up OBIM’s new Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) program that is supposed to replace the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) that became operational 30 years ago.

Consequently, DHS is on a mission to understand the state-of-the-art of biometric sensor technologies, according to a former senior DHS official now in the private sector involved in biometrics.

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 gives OMB authority over the collection of certain information by federal agencies to “ensure the greatest possible public benefit from and maximize the utility of information created, collected, maintained, used, shared, and disseminated by or for the federal government,” and to “improve the quality and use of federal information to strengthen decision-making, accountability, and openness in government and society.”

OBIM is the lead federal agency responsible for providing biometric identity management services to support national security and public safety decision making for DHS and its approximately 140 partners, including the Departments of Defense, State, and the component agencies of the U.S. Intelligence Community. DHS currently continues to provide these biometric identity management services through IDENT. OBIM’s continually growing database holds the biometric information and other personal data on millions of people who have entered, attempted to enter, and exited the U.S. It also contains the biometrics of known and suspected terrorists collected by the U.S. military.

In 2011, DHS reported that IDENT had significant shortcomings, such as system capacity constraints, a lack of ability to handle multiple types of biometric information, and limitations on accuracy and assurance. To mitigate these problems, DHS launched the HART program in 2016 to replace IDENT and to provide additional capabilities.

HART was originally estimated to cost $4.2 billion and to be fully implemented by 2021, but in June 2017, it was determined that the HART program would not be able to meet its initial acquisition program baseline milestones and DHS was forced to declare a schedule breach. DHS then rebaselined the HART program two years later, in May 2019, in response to the breach. However, in June 2021, the program remained significantly behind schedule and had exceeded its most recent cost estimate.

As Biometric Update reported, the repeatedly delayed HART program continues to be plagued with privacy problems. Among these problems are serious “gaps” in the incorporation of key privacy measures that are required before HART can be deployed. They are so much of a problem that they’ve degraded the ability of HART to properly protect individuals’ PII.

Because the HART initiative has been dogged by these and other problems from the start, the Fiscal Year 2025 DHS appropriations bill that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 28 slashed funding for HART and financial systems management by $16.8 million below the FY 2024 enacted level, and provides no funds for additional procurement, construction, or improvements of HART.

Striving to continuing to improve its biometric services under duress, DHS said OBIM “has identified a need to understand the performance of new sensors and data emerging from these sensors.” It explained that “this understanding is crucial for advancing standards development and threshold guidance as continuously evolving technologies impact the performance of the operational biometric matchers leveraged by the OBIM biometric repository.”

DHS said the new OBIM studies will “support relevant biometrics collection projects so that OBIM can collaborate with performers to take on various biometric collection projects that will help to understand biometric collection device performance in various operational settings. These performers include academic and other research centers to design and execute studies that involve collection of different biometrics depending on the need and/or research question.”

It is imperative that “OBIM understand biometric collection device performance so that [it’s] better able to do the sharing and comparing portion of [its] homeland security mission,” DHS explained, noting that “because authentication/identification accuracy depends on the reliability of the equipment used to capture data, OBIM is developing guidance on biometric capture quality to enable the implementation of new capabilities that enhance national security and general public safety.”

To that end, OBIM is seeking input from industry to help in this effort because of its “extensive experience with biometric image collection and analysis developed from previous studies.” DHS said OBIM anticipates “conducting several small-scale human research studies to support OBIM program goals.”

OBIM is interested in gathering more information in the following biometric modalities: face, fingerprint, palm print, iris, and voice. The purpose of the new analysis, DHS spelled out, is to evaluate the current state of the art in biometrics and biometric capture, and to provide insights on likely future developments in biometrics and identity intelligence technologies for OBIM to continue advancing research and development efforts, interoperability standards, and threshold guidance.

DHS said its “goal is to aid in the elaboration of a multi-year strategy for both research and development for future technologies.”

OBIM aims to continue to improve biometric services within DHS and the necessary guidance associated with the implementation of these biometrics. The primary objective of the studies and use of information technology is to compare the performance of biometric sensors. Specifically, understanding the parameters that impact the quality of biometric image collection, which in turn, impacts the performance of downstream comparison algorithms.

According to DHS, because biometric technologies are continuously evolving, OBIM must assess new sensors and their “inherent impact on the performance with the operational biometric matchers leveraged by the OBIM biometric repository.”

To perform these assessments, DHS said, “biometric collections will occur using emerging commercial off the shelf sensors ( e.g., finger, face, iris, scanner, using a platen, clamshell, mobile application, etc.). The assessment and potential future implementation of advancing biometric sensors aims to improve the biometric collection experience for the customer and the agent to ensure quality biometrics are collected in an easy to use and time efficient manner to reduce burden on the customer and agent involved in the collection while still providing quality biometric images to allow for accurate comparison for mission decision support.”

For its part, OMB is “particularly interested” in comments which:

• Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
• Evaluate the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
• Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
• Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

Comments will be accepted until September 23, 2024. Submit using the federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Use docket number Docket # DHS-2024-0026.

Article Topics

biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  data collection  |  DHS  |  OBIM  |  research and development  |  U.S. Government