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FedID 2019

Civil Libertarians Wrong to Fear Biometrics

September 26, 2019
By Shaun Waterman
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said biometrics will fundamentally change the way we must think about privacy during his closing keynote at the Federal Identity Forum and Expo. Photo: Shaun Waterman/Signal

Civil libertarians are wrong to fear facial recognition and other biometric identity technologies. But, they will fundamentally change the way we must think about privacy and could have very negative consequences for democracy if not regulated correctly, said constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, George Washington University, at the AFCEA International Federal Identity Forum and Expo in Tampa, Florida.

Facial recognition “is perfectly suited to blow privacy law to pieces,” Turley told the audience in his closing keynote.

Misperceptions About Facial Recognition Taint Public Conversation

September 26, 2019
By Shaun Waterman
Panelists (l-r) Duane Blackburn, S&T policy analyst for The MITRE Corporation; Ralph Rodriguez, Facebook research scientist; Logan O'Shaughnessy, attorney, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board; Arun Ross, professor, Michigan State University; and moderator Stephanie Schuckers, director of the Center for Identification Technology Research at Clarkson University, discuss misperceptions about facial recognition at FedID 2019. Photo: Shaun Waterman/Signal

One or two inaccurate studies, amplified by a media focused on conflict, have stoked Americans’ concern about facial recognition, tainted the public conversation and led to flawed legislative proposals to ban the technology, experts told AFCEA International’s Federal Identity Forum and Expo Wednesday.

“We had a couple of academic papers come out that unfortunately were pretty wrong, to be blunt,” said Duane Blackburn, a science and technology policy analyst with The Mitre Corporation, and one of the conference organizers.

U.S. Intelligence Executive Lays Out Identity Agenda

September 25, 2019
By Shaun Waterman
Panelists discuss identity intelligence at the Federal Identity Forum and Expo. Credit: Shaun Waterman

For U.S. intelligence agencies, identity is all about “trying to find bad guys,” said Kathleen Lane, the identity intelligence executive for the Office of the National Director of Intelligence.

In a rare public appearance at the AFCEA International Federal Identity Forum and Expo in Tampa, Florida, Lane explained that her attendance was part of a push by ODNI to be more transparent about the increasing U.S. use of identity intelligence.

Financial Crimes, Identity Fraud Often Related

September 24, 2019
By Shaun Waterman
FinCEN Director Kenneth Blanco speaks at AFCEA International's Federal identity Forum and Expo September 24 in Tampa, Florida. Credit: Shaun Waterman

There’s a new federal player on the field in the identity security game—the U.S. Treasury’s anti-money laundering and financial intelligence office, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network known as FinCEN.

“Many of you may not know what we do,” FinCEN Director Kenneth Blanco told AFCEA International’s Federal ID Forum and Expo Tuesday, explaining that FinCEN was the regulatory agency that administers the Bank Secrecy Act—the primary federal law against terror financing and money laundering—and at the same time the principal financial intelligence agency for the U.S. government, providing access to its database of 30 million financial records to law enforcement agencies, regulators and foreign allies.

NIST: Facial Recognition Technology Improving by Leaps and Bounds

September 24, 2019
By Shaun Waterman
Credit: Shutterstock/Andrey_Popov

Facial recognition technology has become “spectacularly” more effective at matching an individual with their photo in a gallery of millions of pictures, according to the latest research by U.S. government scientists.

“The algorithms now are spectacularly more successful [at matching two pictures of the same person] than they were when we first tested this technology in 2010,” Patrick Grother, the biometrics testing project leader at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) told AFCEA International’s Federal ID Forum and Expo Tuesday.

New Vetting Center Is Flipping the Script on Watchlisting

September 24, 2019
By Shaun Waterman
(l-r) Monte Hawkins, director of the National Vetting Center, Charles Bartoldus, former official and now senior advisor to CT-Strategies, ODNI Identity Intelligence Executive Kathleen Lane, DHS CIO official Emily Barbero, NVC Chief of Staff Casie Antalis and NVC Technical Director Lori Vislocky speak at AFCEA International's Federal identity Forum and Expo in Tampa, Florida. Credit: Shaun Waterman

To guard America’s borders against a lengthening list of threats, the new interagency National Vetting Center (NVC) is flipping the script on watchlisting, officials said Monday.

Instead of compiling lists of individuals believed linked to terrorism or some other threat, the NVC is figuring out how to leverage all the information held by U.S. government agencies about any individual applying for entry to the country, the center’s director, Monte Hawkins, told AFCEA International’s Federal Identity Forum and Expo in Tampa, Florida.

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