Defense Biometrics: DOD Can Better Conform to Standards and Share Biometric Information with Federal Agencies Page: 2 of 50
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' G A O DEFENSE BIOMETRICS
Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
H eihl t DOD Can Better Conform to Standards and Share
11htS Biometric Information with Federal Agencies
Highlights of GAO-11-276, a report to
congressional requestersWhy GAO Did This Study
Biometrics technologies that collect
and facilitate the sharing of
fingerprint records, and other identity
data, are important to national
security and federal agencies
recognize the need to share such
information. The Department of
Defense (DOD) plans to spend $3.5
billion for fiscal years 2007 to 2015 on
biometrics. GAO was asked to
examine the extent to which DOD
has (1) adopted standards and taken
actions to facilitate the collection of
biometrics that are interoperable
with other key federal agencies, and
(2) shares biometric information
across key federal agencies. To
address these objectives, GAO
reviewed documents including those
related to standards for collection,
storage, and sharing of biometrics;
visited selected facilities that analyze
and store such information; and
interviewed key federal officials.
What GAO Recommends
To improve DOD's ability to collect
and share information, GAO
recommends that DOD implement
processes for updating and testing
biometric collection devices to
adopted standards; fully define and
clarify the roles and responsibilities
for all biometric stakeholders;
finalize an agreement with the
Department of Homeland Security
(DHS); and identify its long-term
biometric system capability needs.
DOD agreed with all of GAO's
recommendations.
View GAO-11-276 or key components.
For more information, contact Davi M.
D'Agostino, (202) 512-5431 or
dagostinod @ gao.govWhat GAO Found
DOD has adopted a standard for the collection of biometric information to
facilitate sharing of that information with other federal agencies. DOD
recognized the importance of interoperability and directed adherence to
internationally accepted biometric standards. DOD applied adopted standards
in some but not all of its collection devices. Specifically, a collection device
used primarily by the Army does not meet DOD adopted standards. As a
result, DOD is unable to automatically transmit biometric information
collected to federal agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI). For example, this device is responsible for 13 percent of the records
maintained by DOD-the largest number of submissions collected by a
handheld device, according to DOD. Further, this constitutes approximately
630,000 DOD biometric records that cannot be searched automatically against
FBI's approximately 94 million. DOD has not taken certain actions that would
likely improve its adherence to standards, all of which are based on criteria
from the Standard for Program Management, the National Science and
Technology Council, and the Office of Management and Budget guidance,
respectively. First, DOD does not have an effective process, procedure, or
timeline for implementing updated standards. Second, DOD does not routinely
test at sufficient levels of detail for conformance to these standards. Third,
DOD has not fully defined roles and responsibilities specifying accountability
needed to ensure its collection devices meet new and updated standards.
DOD is sharing its biometric information and has an agreement to share
biometric information with the Department of Justice, which allows for direct
connectivity and the automated sharing of biometric information between
their biometric systems. DOD's ability to optimize sharing is limited by not
having a finalized sharing agreement with DHS, and its capacity to process
biometric information. Currently, DOD and DHS do not have a finalized
agreement in place to allow direct connectivity between their biometric
systems. DOD is working with DHS to develop a memorandum of
understanding to share biometric information now scheduled for completion
in May 2011; however, without the agreement, it is unclear whether direct
connectivity will be established between DOD and DHS, which affects
response times to search queries. Further, agencies' biometric systems have
varying system capacities based on their mission needs, which affects their
ability to similarly process each other's queries for biometric information. As a
result, DOD and other agency officials have expressed concern that DOD's
biometric system may be unable to meet the search demands from their other
biometric systems over the long-term. DOD officials do not believe that they
need to match other agencies' biometric system capacities because they do
not anticipate receiving the same number of queries given differences in
mission. However, the advancements other agencies make in their biometric
systems may continue to overwhelm DOD's efforts as it works to identify its
long-term biometric system capability needs and associated costs.United States Government Accountability Office
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United States. Government Accountability Office. Defense Biometrics: DOD Can Better Conform to Standards and Share Biometric Information with Federal Agencies, report, March 31, 2011; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc303200/m1/2/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.