Testimony: FBI’s Mueller talks biometrics
17 September, 2008
category: Biometrics, Government
FBI Director Robert Mueller testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on the Judiciary about the IT advance the agency is making.
Of particular note is the FBI’s Next Generation Identification system that will add other biometric technologies and information to the criminal database. “It will also produce faster returns of information, enabling law enforcement and counterterrorism officials to make tactical decisions in the field,” he said.
As criminals are becoming more advanced law enforcement need to create more advanced technology. “Criminals ranging from identity thieves to document forgers to terrorists are taking advantage of modern technology to shield their identities and activities. This trend will only accelerate. And so our new system will include not just fingerprints, but additional biometric data from criminals and terrorists. It will give us—and all our law enforcement and intelligence partners—bigger, better, and faster capabilities as we move forward,” Muller said.
The FBI is also deploying biometrics in the field to help identify potential criminals more easily. “The true power of advanced biometrics in the national and homeland security arenas is only realized when authorized users, ranging from patrol officers working the streets of America to Department of State officers screening visa applicants abroad, have the ability to quickly gather data on those persons they encounter in real-time search appropriate databases.”
Read the full testimony here.