US agencies to gather for Biometrics Town Hall on common vocab, data models

The biometrics body of America’s National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) is holding an event for the biometrics community at the end of the month to discuss and collect feedback on collaborative projects involving public sector organizations.

The NIEMOpen Biometrics Subcommittee Executive Committee has announced a Virtual Biometrics Town Hall event scheduled for August 29, 2024. The event will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams.

The primary objective is to convene professionals and stakeholders in the biometrics community to engage in discussions about recent updates and advancements in common vocabularies and data models and to gather community input.

U.S. governmental agencies presenting at the event include the Department of Homeland Security Office of Biometric Identity Management (DHS OBIM) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

NIST will update the community on the latest progress and new developments in biometric standards and practices. The agency recently issued guidance to bridge the gap between contactless fingerprint biometrics capture and legacy contact-based systems. Dr. James Wayman, member of scientific staff at DHS, will deliver a presentation on “What Biometric Testing Doesn’t Tell Us,” and the Department of Defense Forensic Biometric Agency (DFBA) will give a presentation on progress in the Forensic Electronic Data Interchange Specification.

The OBIM offers biometric services to different departments within the DHS, prioritizing national security and immigration-related operations. The agency also collaborates with foreign governments such as Canada, the UK, and Australia.

Plans by DHS to collect migrant childrens’ biometrics data for facial recognition training were reported last week.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  border security  |  DHS  |  digital identity  |  homeland security  |  National Information Exchange Model (NIEM)  |  OBIM