Biometrics and a different side of the Afghan war

...from the Durango Herald:

“You never know who is coming through the gate – it is very important for me to see that I’m getting kids inside the gate and getting (them) to treatment they’re not going to receive anywhere else,” he said.

To ensure the hundreds receiving care each day are safe, Silvia and other troops scan each person’s eyes and fingers with high-tech biometric scanners that provide access to individual information.

Biometrics and "Green on Blue" Violence in Afghanistan

Another 'green-on-blue' attack kills NATO troop; 10 dead in 2 weeks (Stars & Stripes)

Afghanistan ‘insider’ attacks pose threat to West’s exit strategy (Stars & Stripes)

How to guard against such attacks is the subject of considerable debate in military leadership circles, because overtly heavy-handed measures can send a signal to the Afghans that they are not trusted, which can be taken as an insult. And in traditional Afghan culture, perceived insult can swiftly lead to exactly the sort of violence the attacks represent.

Efforts on the Afghan side include embedding undercover intelligence officers in some battalions, and stricter scrutiny of recruits, including the collection of biometric data to compare against a database of known insurgents. Some observers, though, believe the safeguards built into the recruitment process, including the requirement that village elders vouch for those who want to join the army, are routinely bypassed in many provinces.

Biometrics can help with identity management but they are always just a part of an overall organizational plan.

This short passage touches on a few important issues: technology, managing people, managing a security regime once it's in place. All must work together in furtherance of organizational goals. If one leg of the stool goes, the whole structure is at risk. For some organizations that means embarrassing CEO speeches and annoyed customers. For others the results are utterly tragic.

Military Use of Biometrics in Afghanistan

The eyes have it: Biometric data and the Afghan war (The Economist)
Though The Economist obviously disagrees with the use of biometric technology in Afghanistan, the article can't help but describe the incredibly useful ways biometrics are applied by the military there.

Iowa Guardsmen Capture Taliban Financier Using Biomtrics

Local Guardsmen capture of Taliban financier detailed (SouthwestIowaNews.com)

Spc. Dan Goeser, of Manilla, and Staff Sgt. Timothy Beery, of Denison, were involved in the capture of an individual who was financing local Taliban members.

Team Diesel knew the financier was coming into their area and had a license plate number for the individual’s vehicle. Beery was the truck commander of the first truck and Goeser was the gunner. They blocked the financier’s vehicle from the rear and a second truck blocked it from the front before the rest of the convoy arrived.

The financier didn’t admit to his identity, Beery stated. A biometric device was used identify the individual by scanning his fingerprints and eyes.

Berry said the financier was turned over to LTC Stephen Boesen II, the battalion commander, and in turn was turned over to the Afghan National Army.

U.S. Military Departs Iraq, Takes Huge Biometric Database with It

U.S. Holds On to Biometrics Database of 3 Million Iraqis (Wired)

Two things are going on here. First, the United States is keeping the biometric (and other) information it gathered on some three million Iraqis over the length of its involvement in Iraq. Second, the military is not going to share that information with the Iraqi government it leaves behind, though it would be a simple and inexpensive thing to do. After all, information is not like cake — you can have your data and eat (or share) it, too.

The digital database is the property of Central Command’s intelligence shop in Tampa, Florida. It is conspicuously not in the control of the Iraqi government. Taylor says that the Iraqis might be able to access the database’s contents if they go “through the [U.S.] embassy” in Baghdad.

“Common sense-wise, we still have an interest there in helping our Iraqi partners,” Taylor explains, “and that information might be helpful to them should there be any issues.”

Taylor doesn’t say why the U.S. didn’t hand over its biometrics toy to the Iraqis. But there’s an obvious reason: Iraq’s sectarian divides have not healed. And a database filled with uber-specific information about approximately 10 percent of Iraq’s population could represent a wish list for a death squad, militia or insurgent group — some of which are aligned with Iraqi political parties.

This thought-provoking article addresses the issue of what happens to biometric information (or any other military intelligence, for that matter) when a military campaign is wound down.

Don't read it expecting firm and definitive answers, though. The article raises as many questions as it answers. John at the M2SYS blog does an excellent job of making explicit the questions the Wired article begs.

Answering the questions, however, will require a political, legal and military analysis rather than a technical analysis. After all, ID management is about people.

UPDATE: John at M2SYS, asks via Twitter:

I think it's highly unlikely that there will be a privacy backlash, at least among Iraqis.

The Iraqis (esp. Sunnis) friendly toward the U.S. military who had their biometrics captured are probably extremely relieved that the U.S. military has decided not to give the current Iraqi government their info. As for Iraqis of more violent intent, they're already lashing back and it's not over privacy concerns.

Once the U.S. military made the decision that it was going to keep the biometric database information — and it would have been truly astounding had it decided otherwise — exercising caution in how the data is shared lowers the risk that harm will come to individuals in the database and arguably demonstrates respect for the privacy of any ordinary Iraqis in the database.

It's also important to draw a contrast between violations of privacy that lead to more spam, phishing and identity fraud and the kind of privacy violation that can lead to political persecution, torture, prison and loss of life. My guess is that Iraqis worry more about the latter than the former and the former isn't very likely to result from the U.S. military's possession of the biometric data in question.

On another note, nothing prevents the U.S. from co-operating with the Iraqi government using the biometric data it has gathered on a case-by-case basis in the future. They simply decided not to turn over the whole database now, no questions asked.

UK War Medalist Charged with Biometrics-Related War Crimes

UK War medalist charged with "Mutilation" for collecting battlefield biometrics the really hard way (PressTV)

The 25-year-old lieutenant, a lower-ranked soldier, and a captain are charged with cutting the fingers of a Taliban member who was killed in an Apache chopper air strike in the Afghan province of Helmand.

The Director of Service Prosecutions is investigating the case.

The three apparently ruthlessly severed the fingers of the dead Taliban fighter for finger printing after they failed to do so with a biometric camera allegedly under sustained hostile fire.

The three have claimed their action should be considered a mistake as they were “in the heat of battle.”

Other notes:

The alleged victim was allegedly dead at the time of the alleged incident.

One of those allegedly involved earned the Military Cross.

Taliban, Afghanistan-Pakistan border & SEEK

The Taliban Got the Biometric Border Blues (Strategy Page)

Pakistan, under pressure from the United States and Afghanistan, has agreed to resume using biometric (fingerprinting, photos and iris scans) of people using the roads between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The equipment for this was installed at border posts near Quetta (the capital of Baluchistan province, which forms Afghanistan's southern border) five years ago. But after a few days, thousands of armed, and angry, tribesmen forced the border posts to shut down until they got rid of the biometric gear. The Taliban, and drug gangs, knew that this biometric stuff was being used with great success in Afghanistan to identify and track Islamic radicals and all sorts of criminals.

Much more at the link.
If, in addition to biometrics, you're interested in worldwide military affairs, it's hard to beat Strategy Page.

Pakistan - Afghanistan Border Biometrics: Challenges Ahead

As is frequently the case, the challenges aren't technical (Dawn.com - Pakistan)

WHILE reviving the biometric system on the border with Afghanistan may be a welcome move, one hopes that the interior minister, who has said the screening process will start on Nov 30, is aware of the difficulties involved. Introduced in January 2007 at Chaman, the system was not welcomed by Afghan nationals, who attacked the border gates in protest. The arrangement had to be called off because the Kabul government, too, did not cooperate. Whether or not the scheme works this time will depend on the level of Pakistan`s determination to go ahead with it despite the odds.

The article advances a one-sided Pakistani point of view but it's sufficient to illustrate an important point. Biometric ID management systems can produce great results in a functioning bilateral relationship; they can't compensate for the lack of such a relationship.

Biometric Applications in Afghanistan

Biometrics in Afghanistan (YouTube via @M2SYS)

Biometrics, Military Intelligence and International terror groups

Intelligence: Pakistan Gets It (Strategy Page)

...[T]hree years ago the U.S. revealed that many terrorists it arrests, or kills, in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world, already had arrest records in the United States and other nations. They knew this because early on in the war on terror, the Department of Defense adopted many practices that major police departments have long taken for granted, and that Pakistan is just now coming to appreciate.

One of the more useful techniques used by the American military to build its database is biometrics.

International Affairs, military style, with an "it's about people" thread.