4/18/2023 0 Comments Bat and hiideIntelligence analysts can also use the system to monitor people’s movements and activities by tracking biometric data recorded by troops in the field.īy 2011, a decade after 9/11, the Department of Defense maintained approximately 4.8 million biometric records of people in Afghanistan and Iraq, with about 630,000 of the records collected using HIIDE devices.Īlso by that time, the US Army and its military partners in the Afghan government were using biometric-enabled intelligence or biometric cyberintelligence on the battlefield to identify and track insurgents. In addition to biometric data, the system includes biographic and contextual data such as criminal and terrorist watchlist records, enabling users to determine if an individual is flagged in the system as a suspect. Users of these devices can collect iris and fingerprint scans and facial photos, and match them to entries in military databases and biometric watchlists. HIIDE is a single small device that incorporates a fingerprint reader, iris scanner and camera. forces were collecting biometric data primarily through mobile devices such as the Biometric Automated Toolset (BAT) and Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE).īAT includes a laptop, fingerprint reader, iris scanner and camera. Identity dominance means being able to keep track of people the military considers a potential threat regardless of aliases, and ultimately denying organizations the ability to use anonymity to hide their activities.īy 2004, thousands of US military personnel had been trained to collect biometric data to support the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen documented the birth of biometric-driven warfare in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in her book “ First Platoon.” The US Department of Defense quickly viewed biometric data and what it called “identity dominance” as the cornerstone of multiple counterterrorism and counterinsurgency strategies. My research and the work of journalists and privacy advocates who study biometric cyber-surveillance anticipated these data privacy and security risks. military's detentions command, known as Joint Task Force-435, is working with the Afghan Ministry of Interior to kick-start an up-to-date records program.This data breach underscores that data protection in zones of conflict, especially biometric data and databases that connect online activity to physical locations, can be a matter of life and death. And after 30 years of war, Afghanistan isn't really in the data-collection game. BATS and HIIDE were used in Iraq, where counterinsurgents like David Kilcullen praised the devices for allowing troops to quickly and positively identify known insurgents during the surge.īut any detective will tell you that a database is only as good as the data it contains. One clunky component of it, the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection System (HIIDE), which looks like a big black FunSaver, takes pictures of a captive's irises, facial features and fingerprints. The Biometrics Automated Toolset, or BAT, allows troops who detain insurgents on the battlefield to get a quick biometric identification of who they've captured, all through talking to the database. Troops in the field can access the system through a set of portable consoles that the DSB has on hand. All of this information goes into a military database called the Automated Biometric Information System. Its cameras snap five photographs of every detainee's face. After a shower and a medical exam, the DSB scans their irises and collects prints from all of their fingers, rolling their thumbs for a 360-degree view. A mark of any identifying scars, marks or tattoos. That's where he comes in.Įvery detainee who comes into Parwan leaves basic information with the Detainee Services Branch during in-processing: Name father's name residence. But Army Brigadier General Mark Martins, who currently runs day-to-day operations at the detention center, explains that there's a basic problem with Afghanistan's criminal justice system: It doesn't have a efficient information infrastructure to identify the people it holds. By 2014, it'll become a major Afghan jail, run by the Ministry of Justice to incarcerate convicted criminals, not hold insurgents taken off the battlefield. Parwan, with its thousand-or-so detainee population, will become an Afghan-run detention complex next year. In a country with a shaky commitment to the rule of law, those identifiers could become weapons. It's also an emerging datafarm, storing biometric information on its inmate population. military's new Detention Facility In Parwan as just a holding pen for suspected insurgents. BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Don't think of the U.S.
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