FBI finds unique way to identify Criminals and Terrorists

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now planning to use a high-tech technique to nab criminals and terrorists. The agency has set out on a $1 billion venture to build the world's largest databank of biometric information that will give it unprecedented abilities to identify different individuals in the US and abroad.

According to a Washington Post report, FBI, the principal investigative unit of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), has already started gathering up peoples' physical characteristics in its systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement located in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns already are flowing into the FBI systems, the report said. The massive database may grow to include eye scans, even data on the shape of a person's face or how they walk and talk.

Researchers at the West Virginia University Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) are working on capturing images of people's irises at distances of up to 15 feet, and of faces from as far away as 200 yards.

In the coming years, the system, called Next Generation Identification, will help the law enforcement authorities around the world to easily solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists by comparing them quickly with information in the database, the report added.

In addition, upon request by employers, the FBI will retain fingerprints of their workers who have undergone criminal background checks, and alert them if those workers violate the law.

"Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division.

The U.S. Defense Department already has stored images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan prisoners, Iraqi citizens and foreigners that have access to US military bases in those countries.

The US government’s initiative has triggered strong criticism among those who worry that people's bodies will effectively become their international identity cards. Critics say the project should not proceed unless it can be proven that the technology actually can distinguish a criminal in a crowd.

Civil liberties campaigners also criticized the project planned by the FBI. "It's going to be an essential component of tracking," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's enabling the always-on surveillance society."