In total, the DoD allocated more than $3.5 billion to build up "combat biometrics," between 20, Jacobsen wrote in her book. "Now they are left with an extraordinary amount of data which they collected in such a haphazard manner."Īlongside identifying biometrics, the database could also contain biographical details, religious affiliations, and other sensitive categories, according to specifications published by the DoD.įingerprints and other biometric data gathered at the scenes of terror attacks, or at suspected weapons manufacturing sites were also uploaded. "They put together these databases literally on the fly, with almost no oversight," she said.
"There'd be hundreds of people in line," he recalled, "It was never-ending."īut Annie Jacobsen, the author of "First Platoon: A Story of Modern War in the Age of Identity Dominance", a book about the US biometric program, said much of the data collected by US troops and contractors could be incomplete, or inaccurate. Toby Stell, a contractor from Oklahoma, traveled around Iraq between 20 collecting data on thousands of Iraqis and sending it more than 6,000 miles away to the Pentagon's Automated Biometric Identification System database in West Virginia.ĭuring stints in Baghdad, Nineveh, and in Kurdistan, Stell would often work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to biometrics gathered in military operations, the US hired private contractors to "enroll" millions of Iraqis in databases. "A lot of things lined up - it was the perfect storm." "The Iraq war was the proof of concept of using biometrics for intelligence purposes," Woodward, who is now a professor at Boston University, said in a phone interview. In 2004, the US Defence Science Board recommended the US military launch a drive for "tagging, tracking, and locating" targets in its war on terror.
The beginning of the Iraq war coincided with a search for biometric solutions to a range of identity and verification challenges.
The spokesperson flagged a 2016 Department of Defence policy document, which states that "biometric collections are encouraged during all military operations and military intelligence activities where legal and appropriate."
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