The Army's Afghan Biometric ID Plan

Army Reveals Afghan Biometric ID Plan; Millions Scanned, Carded by May

By Noah Shachtman
Scanning prisoners’ irises is just Step 1. In Afghanistan, local and NATO forces are amassing biometric dossiers on hundreds of thousands of cops, crooks, soldiers, insurgents and ordinary citizens. And now, with NATO’s backing, the Kabul government is putting together a plan to issue biometrically backed identification cards to 1.65 million Afghans by next May.

The idea is to hinder militant movement around the country, and to keep Taliban infiltrators out of the army, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell tells Danger Room. “The system allows the Afghans to thoroughly screen applicants and recruits for any potential negative past history or criminal linkages, while at the same time it provides an additional measure of security at checkpoints and major facilities to prevent possible entrance and access by malign actors in Afghanistan,” Caldwell e-mails.

It’s a high-tech upgrade to a classic counterinsurgency move — simultaneously taking a census of the population, culling security forces of double agents and cutting off guerrilla routes. (Plus, bombs and weapons can be swabbed for fingerprints to build files on insurgent suspects.) Gen. David Petraeus, now commander of the Afghan war effort, relied heavily on biometrics during his time in command of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Twenty to 25 Afghans a week are currently caught in the biometric sweep, military officials estimate. That number could grow significantly in the months to come. The “population registration division” of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior is “embarking on a program to develop, print and distribute biometrically enabled national ID cards,” e-mails Col. Craig Osbourne, the director of NATO’s Task Force Biometrics.

President Hamid Karzai has yet to sign on. But the “Afghan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has already secured a $122 million contract for the database development and printing of cards in support of that plan,” Osbourne adds.

There are all kinds of hurdles to the plan, however. At the moment, Afghanistan’s two main biometric databases don’t talk to one another, limiting their effectiveness. The Karzai government has blocked previous efforts to extend the biometric dragnet. And in a country where the rule of law is more of a suggestion, there’s a risk that a storehouse of irises and fingerprints and faces could one day be abused.

Right now, there are two primary biometric projects underway in Afghanistan. One is run by NATO forces, and uses the fingerprint readers, iris scanners and digital cameras of the Biometric Automated Toolset (.ppt) to capture information on detainees and other “persons of interest.” The U.S. military says it has assembled 410,000 of these biometric dossiers in the past year-and-a-half.

The second project, the Afghan Automated Biometric Identification System (AABIS), run by the Afghan government, collects data on Afghan National Army and police recruits. Fingerprints, irises and faces are all scanned into Crossmatch Jump Kits. The kits are periodically brought back to Kabul, where the data is dumped into the AABIS mainframe — and cross-checked with biometric records from the Afghan National Detention Facility, Kabul Central Police Command, Counternarcotics Police of Afghanistan and FBI prison enrollments from Kabul, Herat and Kandahar.


Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/afghan-biometric-dragnet-co...

Views: 84

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by Nikki on October 4, 2010 at 12:15am
But they saw it advertised on TV and just had to have it!!!

Comment by bryan l on October 4, 2010 at 12:10am
paying 100+$ for a cell phone that will work for no more than 2 years if you haven't already bought the next new one. and 100+$ for the whole package every month! well obviously people don't have their thinking caps on.
Comment by Nikki on October 3, 2010 at 11:59pm
The sheep don't realize how the technology they love so dearly will one day be used against us.
Comment by bryan l on October 3, 2010 at 11:54pm
right back to the scanning the babies when their born.
Comment by Nikki on October 3, 2010 at 1:38pm
They are perfecting the system to use on us.

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

tjdavis favorited Doc Vega's blog post One of Many Witnesses to the JFK Assassination Not Listed in the Warren Report
9 hours ago
Doc Vega posted a blog post

One of Many Witnesses to the JFK Assassination Not Listed in the Warren Report

In an interview by Attorney Mark Lane James Leon Simmons, a railroad worker, who like many…See More
13 hours ago
Burbia commented on KLC's group MUSICWARS
yesterday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

The Unnerving Frequency of Disappearances on the Appalachian Trail Pt. 1

There’s another one of the cluster zones of missing persons reports that fails to render the…See More
yesterday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

Waste runs deep

"Make USAID - go away."
Wednesday
cheeki kea posted a photo
Wednesday
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

$ Paid Annual Leave $

"Now is the Time for American Workers to Unite! Take back the squandered taxes and demand time off…"
Monday
cheeki kea posted a photo
Monday
Burbia commented on Burbia's blog post Mystery illness strikes Russia with fever, blood symptoms, and no cure in sight.
Monday
Burbia posted a blog post

Mystery illness strikes Russia with fever, blood symptoms, and no cure in sight.

I guess releasing this bio-weapon upon Israeli neighbors would be hitting too close to home. I…See More
Monday
tjdavis posted videos
Monday
tjdavis posted a video

The Electric State | Final Trailer | Netflix

Together, robots & humans can take the whole system down. THE ELECTRIC STATE starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt and directed by the Russo Brothers, onl...
Sunday
Less Prone favorited Sandy's video
Saturday
Doc Vega's 7 blog posts were featured
Saturday
tjdavis's blog post was featured
Saturday
Sandy posted a video

"Mommy Tells Me I'm a Girl"-Jeff Younger

Soft White Underbelly interview and portrait of Jeff Younger, a father who is fighting to protect his son from transitioning into a girl. Get 40% off access ...
Saturday
tjdavis posted a video

MindWar: Full Spectrum Cognitive Dominance [Michael Aquino Analysis]

This is my analysis and my thoughts on Michael Aquino's "MindWar". This document is a must-read if you are looking to understand the psyop tactics and cognit...
Mar 28
Doc Vega posted a blog post

A Horrid Murder at Land Between the Lakes (Sasquatch?)

 Most of us hear that Sasquatch-Bigfoot are intelligent yet reclusive creatures that are closely…See More
Mar 28
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Mar 27
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's video
Thumbnail

Metropolis (1927) Full Movie | 4K Color Remastered: 2023 Colorized with Gottfried Huppertz Score

"Hey thanks for the thumbs up guys. I was blown away (like a leaf in a tornado) when I watched this…"
Mar 27

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted