Identification

US expert calls for global biometrics clearing house

By Robin Hicks | 18 March 2009

Biometric information should be freely shared between countries to combat terrorism and help victims of disaster quickly locate their loved ones, a senior American biometrics expert told delegates at the Global Security Asia conference today (Wednesday 18 March).

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Brian Seagrave, Vice President, Raytheon Homeland Security, said that global support should be garnered for America’s ‘server in the sky’ project first tabled in January last year.

“The benefits of biometric technology are self-evident. But the benefits can be greatly advanced by sharing information between countries to create a universal biometrics clearing house,” said Mr Seagrave.

“After an event such as 9/11 or the Asian tsunami, such a system could be used to rapidly identify victims. It could also be used to identify terrorists traveling between nations. This is achievable without compromising privacy.”

However, Mr Seagrave said there were two obstacles in the way to achieving a universal biometric system: technology and politics.

“Interoperability standards must be established first. Then standards applied to multi-modal biometric systems – finger, iris, retina, voice, DNA and so on,” he said.

But a lack of trust between nations is the bigger obstacle. “Certain countries are extremely protective of their data. Those same countries have the most valuable data. We need increased diplomatic efforts and a facilitating mechanism - using intermediation agencies such as Interpol - to make this happen.”