Mobile fingerprinting comes to Iraq
Ad-hoc efforts by a Marine major embarass the Automated Biometric Identification System by deploying a functional system in thirty days; Cross Match, already known for it military JumpKit, provides the platform; Spirit of America and Goldman Sachs provide the funding
We were once speaking with an executive of Palm Beach Gardens-based Cross Match. The company had just announced the release of its Jumpkit ruggedized fingerprint scanner and we wondered what it would be used for. After all, most people who need to be fingerprinted require it within the genteel confines of an office or customshouse. “It’s for Iraq,” he said, saying that soldiers would use it to help track down terrorists. If an IED exploded in a market, he explained, troops would quickly fingerprint everyone in the area. After doing so at various critical scenes, the troops would be able to identify people who had been present at all of them and might therefore have been involved. (There are those who say that the mystery of Anna Nicole Smith’s death might also be solved with similar deductive methods.)
In fact, the goverment does have the Automated Biometric Identification System, which is supposed to take retina scans, photographs, fingerprints, and even voice samples from detainees, but it has been slow in development. Instead, troops in Iraq have taken to creating their own fingerprinting systems, and a few industrious companies are lending a hand. Consider as an example the case of Marine Major Owen West, who in another life is an energy trader for Goldman Sachs in New York City. Realizing that his efforts in Anbar Province more resembled police work than combat, he teamed up with Spirit of America (SoA), the civilian troop-support group. After describing his vision of a handheld fingerprinting device, SoA agreed to contribute $30,000 for a prototype. Goldman Sachs contributed an additional $14,000.
Owing to the fact that West was due to be redeployed, there was very little time to manufacture and install the system. They teamed up with California-based Computer Deduction, which in turn chose Cross Match’s MV 100 fingerprint workstation as the system platform. The data collected is stored via Bluetooth in a hardened laptop made by California-based GETAC. Another manufacturer, Arizona-based Knowledge Computing providing data mapping technology. All told, the prototype was conceived, built, and shipped in thirty days, which makes us wonder why it has been so hard to bring comercial systems into widespread use. As one general on the ground put it. “Bottom line: The requirement for networking our biometric capability is a priority of this organization.”
-read more in Daniel Henninger’s Wall Street Journal report
