U.S. State Department interested in iris recognitions
U.S. Department of State official says he is interested in examining deployment of iris recognition as part of the department’s biometric requirements for future e-documents; the official said the chief reasons for preferring iris biometrics was its high accuracy with a small footprint when compared to other more widely used biometric technology like face recognition
Kirit Amin, the chief information officer for the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, has come out in favor of expanding the government’s role in biometrics and perhaps moving towards a different mode, according to a Federal News radio article.
It was at the AFCEA Law Enforcement IT Day in Maryland that Amin professed his interest in iris recognition biometrics for a number of reasons and acknowledged the evolution the technology has taken over the past few years.
Entrust reports that his chief reasons for preferring iris biometrics was its high-accuracy with a small footprint when compared to other more widely used biometric technology like face recognition.
Quickly behind that reason is Amin’s assertion of iris recognition systems being much less intrusive to an individual being scanned as it can authenticate one’s identity from four to six feet away from a scanner and technology exists that doesn’t even require the individual to stop moving to be authenticated.
Amin’s experience with iris biometrics began with his work at the State Department issuing special biometric passports to Iraqi citizens that had been particularly supportive of the United States during its time there. The program he oversaw leveraged the large iris database the Department of Defense had put together, but was not using in any particular fashion.
It was following the program’s success that Amin decided it would be beneficial to implement iris biometrics across the board, however he also acknowledges that there would be a number of obstacles to overcome to see his vision come to fruition.
