I offer many thanks to John at M2SYS for asking me to fill in for him and Mike Kirkpatrick for taking time out of his busy schedule to lend his experience to our understanding of the FBI's use of biometrics for law enforcement and civilian purposes.
Background for the conversation is here.
July, 19 2012 Biometric Chat with Mike Kirkpatrick : Assistant Director in Charge of the Bureau's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division from April 2001 - August 2004.
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Good morning and welcome to this month’s chat on#biometric technology! #biometricchat- I'm honored to be filling in for John @m2sys as this month's host. Thanks for asking me, John!#biometricchat
Good morning to you and thanks for taking over this month's chat - we really are appreciative of your guest hosting skills! #biometricchat- @m2sys The pleasure is mine. AND Thank you, and welcome to Mike @MDKConsulting, for joining us.#biometricchat
- Today, we will be discussing #biometrics in Law Enforcement (esp. FBI). Our guest is Michael Kirkpatrick. @MDKConsulting #biometricchat
Thanks for the invite! I'm looking forward to this morning's chat #biometricchat- @MDKConsulting Mike finished his FBI career as Asst. Dir. in charge of the FBI's CJIS center (Apr. 2001 - Aug. 2004) #biometricchat
- Those dates should give you some idea of the challenges at the FBI's CJIS. #biometricchat
- @SecurLinx Quite a tumultuous time at the FBI's CJIS...anxious to hear some of Mike's feedback and insight. #biometricchat
- Feel free to chip in with your own answers – answer each question (Q1, Q2, Q3, etc.) with A1, A2, A3, etc.#biometricchat
- Also feel free to submit your own questions during chat or ask other questions of the group. #biometricchat
- Q1: What was the biggest challenge CJIS faced in the transition from a paper fingerprint system to a fully fledged IAFIS? #biometricchat
- A1:There were several challenges. Building the world's largest #AFIS; IdM had never been done on that scale before... #biometricchat
- Note: IdM = Identity Management
- A1...Getting the budget to build it ($640M); there were no #fingerprint electronic transmission standards so they had to be.. #biometricchat
- A1:...developed (EFTS); Most #fingerprints were still being captured on paper so had to be converted to digital images:... #biometricchat
- A1:...Major #FBI workforce retraining; IAFIS didn't always work as advertised in the early days so alot of downtime #biometricchat
- Q1: Were lawmakers at the time reluctant to fund this or was it generally accepted that this was natural maturation? #biometricchat
- m2sys A1: Overall, congress was very supportive but this was a high profile project, the only one of its peer projects... #biometricchat
- m2sys A1:...(e.g., FAA & IRS modernizations) to succeed. It turned out to be a high risk/high reward project #biometricchat
- Q2: CJIS is a key part of US ID infrastructure. What is the breakdown between Law Enforcement vs civilian/licensing queries? #biometricchat
- FBI CJIS is used for firearm background checks, child care workers, financial services employment and more...#biometricchat
- @SecurLinx This is a great question. #biometricchat
Often wondered about this breakdown myself, actually#biometricchat #biometricchat- A2: #FBI has 2 #fingerprint streams-criminal and civil (licensing & employment checks). Currently ~55% are criminal... #biometricchat
- A2:...and 45% are civil. The original IAFIS was designed to process 60K prints/day. #FBI Next Generation Identification... #biometricchat
- A2: ...(NGI) now easily processes more than 185K/day. Quite a leap forward! #biometricchat
- @MDKConsulting Holy cow - that is quite a leap.#biometricchat
- Firearm pre-sale checks (NICS) are name-based, not fingerprint-based. #biometricchat
- @mdkconsulting Good catch re firearms... done thru the FBI but no fingerprints involved. #biometricchat
- Q3: What is the next biometric modality CJIS would like to incorporate into IAFIS? #biometricchat
- A3: In order of priority, palm prints, face, and iris capabilities will be added to NGI. #biometricchat
- We just wrote about the B12 MORIS system being adopted by FBI. How much time can apps like this save?bit.ly/LYXvug #biometricchat
- Let's go quickly to Q4 and then deal with Q3 & Q4 together... #BiometricChat
- Q4: Then, if the Big Three of #biometrics are Face, Finger/palm print & Iris – Where does DNA fit in?#BiometricChat
- A4: There's an ongoing multi-agency effort on rapid#DNA, which will put a "quick" DNA capability at the ...#biometricchat
- @mdkconsulting Love the quotes around quick. Definitely quick compared to earlier DNA analysis!#BiometricChat
- A4:...booking stations. We should see this in the market within the next couple of years. It'll help solve alot of cases. #biometricchat
- A4: #DNA in many ways is the ultimate #biometric but still has many privacy issues associated with it as well as the past... #biometricchat
- A4:...relative slowness in getting results. It can prove someone innocent as easily as proving someone guilty, which is... #biometricchat
- A4:...good as all in criminal justice should be searching for the truth. #biometricchat
- @MDKConsulting Excellent point. Biometrics can be evidence of either innocence and guilt. #biometricchat
- @MDKConsulting Q4: So DNA quick checks will be at booking stations to circumvent lab analysis in as little as a few years? #biometricchat
- @m2sys A4: These are envisioned as a "quick" check as an investigative lead rather than a full-on forensic lab exam #biometricchat
- @MDKConsulting Thank you, truly amazing advances in science for DNA processing! #biometricchat
- Currently, #FBI is processing criminal fingerprints in just a few minutes. Rapid DNA is envisioned to be more like an hour. #biometricchat
- Q3/4b: Which (palm, face, iris, DNA) advancement in CJIS capabilities is furthest along? #BiometricChat
- A3-4b: Palm prints #biometricchat
- Last question Q5: What are some near future capabilities related to #biometrics that the FBI would really like to add? #biometricchat
- A5: #FBI & law enforcement are looking for smaller, faster, cheaper mobile #biometric collection devices; capability for ... #biometricchat
- A5:...collection at a distance for fingerprints and iris; implementation of a national palm print capability (a high % of ... #biometricchat
- A5:...crime scene latents are palm prints); and greater accuracy in facial recognition technology for large databases. #biometricchat
- @MDKConsulting is palm a priority for any particular reason, or is it just an indication of technological advancement? #biometricchat
- A @biometricupdate: Palm print capability will help to solve many crimes which are unsolved without it. Countries, such ... #biometricchat
- A @biometricupdate: ...as Australia, which have implemented palms have reported significant increases in latent matches. #biometricchat
- That's all folks. Our sincere thanks to @MDKConcultingMike Kirkpartick for taking the time to talk with us: FBI#biometricchat
- We kept him a little late but hopefully @MDKConsulting(and you) enjoyed our conversation as much as I did.#BiometricChat
- Thanks! I've appreciated the opportunity to chat about one of my passions! #biometricchat
- @MDKConsulting Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, it was extremely informative!#biometricchat
- Thanks @MDKConsulting! Thanks @m2sys for lending me the #BiometricChat hashtag! & to@BiometricUpdate for the questions!
