WALEX: Advancing Biometric Technology

Dr. Myra Gray, Director, Biometrics Task Force, welcomes participants to the WALEX.

The Biometrics Task Force and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Milton Eisenhower Research Center sponsored the "Next Generation Biometrics" Warfare Analysis Laboratory Exercise at APL June 10-11.

This two-day event served to gather members of the intelligence, government, and academic communities in a collaborative effort to meet the challenges of remote, unconventional, non-cooperative, next generation biometrics within the government.

As sponsors of the event, BTF Director Dr. Myra Gray welcomed the group to the APL’s Warfare Analysis Laboratory (WAL)  and shared her aspirations for the event to do more than identify the best biometric solutions for remote human identification, saying, “What we are doing here today will make a difference for the Global War on Terror.”  Gray was followed by other leaders in the biometrics community before the event began to evaluate biometric technologies and their classified and unclassified applications in specific scenarios.

The WAL facility is like a war simulation room with 53 work stations that allow simultaneous electronic discussions.  Information discussed within “the WAL” is secure; however, BTF Latent Print Examiner Kasey Wertheim had some general comments about the event.  “Seeing the state-of-the-art technologies being presented by the scientists who are actively working on them is a rare treat in the biometric world.”  Mr. Wertheim’s reference to scientists stems from the cadre of seven PhD presenters over the course of the two-day session.  “Although specific capabilities are classified,” continued Wertheim, “DoD is generally interested in the exploration of new biometric modalities, capturing biometrics from moving subjects, and near-real-time communication to systems from the field… and technology generally follows the interests of government customers.”