The Path to Enduring Biometric Capability

Biometrics—the ability to establish an individual’s identity through a unique physical characteristic—has become an important capability to the warfighter and is on its way to becoming an enduring capability for future uses on and off the battlefield.  The mission of the Project Manager DoD Biometrics is to support today’s Joint Warfighter on the battlefield while developing tomorrow’s enterprise biometric systems that can support many missions across the Services. 

COL Ted Jennings, who recently accepted this position, explained that the enterprise approach has two major components, the Biometric Enterprise Core Capability (BECC) and the Biometrics Family of Capabilities for Full Spectrum Operations (BFCFSO).  COL Jennings describes BECC:

“BECC is composed of two components:  the Next-Generation Automated Biometric Identification System  (ABIS) or NGA, and Biometrics Common Hardware and Software (BCHS).  The current ABIS has been built and fielded to meet wartime biometric needs based on Quick Reaction Capability requirements and funding.  NGA incorporates all that ABIS accomplished and takes it to the next level.  The most notable change for the user, COL Jennings said, is that the new system will be multimodal.  In the near term, the system will include iris scans and palm prints.  In the future, it will accommodate newer biometric techniques, which might include modalities such as voice recognition and gait, among others.

NGA, as part of BECC, is being developed using blade server technology, which will provide more computing power and allow the database to be divided for testing.  He anticipates the first increment of the  NGA system to be fielded, tested, and the functionality transferred from the current ABIS in the near future. Larry Campbell is assuming responsibility as the Product Director for BECC on April 9.

Following the recent Advanced Planning for Industry briefing, Greg Fritz, Acting Deputy PM, explains, “Biometric capabilities began fast and furious.  We’ve heard from Marines who were able to collect, store, and match biometrics within their own community to keep the area secure.  BECC will elevate that capability across the entire globe.  That’s what we mean by enterprise.  With BECC fully supported and functional, a soldier will be able to get a fingerprint from a sniper and, two years down the road, possibly a Marine gets a latent print from an IED explosion, and the information is matched in West Virginia.  So we have two different prints collected from two different Services in two different places, matched and shared and resulting in identification history that can lead to a criminal conviction.”

This Operational View – Level 1 (OV-1) depicts the BECC, as represented by the box in the center with the store, match, and share components, within the larger military efforts.

COL Jennings adds that the BECC will also allow for future ‘plug and play’ for connecting to the biometric database and potentially using the enterprise system for applications such as base access, humanitarian assistance, finance and medical record access, logical access control, and personnel administration.

Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the PM and the Biometrics Task Force that outlines specific terms for operation and user-level maintenance of the system.  COL Jennings said that, because the BECC has not yet become a formal program of record, this is an important step.  With the MOU and a DoD Directive (outlining specific biometric responsibilities) signed, and with partial funding approved for the future, the next step toward formalizing the program is to have a Joint Capabilities Requirement Document signed.  COL Jennings said that his project team is working hard to help support that process.  Ultimately, the decision rests with the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

“We would like to see this good capability formalized into an enduring capability,” COL Jennings said.