Homeland Security Today – news and analysis – DHS Sees Growing Role for Biometrics
DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Kathleen Kraninger outlines critical place of biometrics in DHS initiatives.In the period shortly following Sept. 11, 2001, biometrics, the science and technology of verifying unique identity by biological traits, quickly attained a high profile, being widely seen as the access control solution of the future. Due to a host of issues, some technological, some economic, and others related to legal and privacy concerns, the roll-out of biometrics has been less rapid than advocates predicted or critics feared.
If biometrics has been slow to become as ubiquitous as many expected, however, it nonetheless has played and is playing a crucial role in a wide range of key Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initiatives.
In her testimony last week before the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Homeland Security, “Biometric Identification” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Kathleen Kraninger, provided a useful overview and update on how biometrics is being integrated into homeland security practice
