DHS watchdog launches privacy probe focused on biometric tracking by ICE, OBIM

The Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog office has launched an audit of the agency’s privacy practices amid allegations that DHS and its components have used facial recognition tools and other technologies to collect data broadly and violate civil liberties. The audit, according to a Feb. 5 letter from DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari and published by Virginia Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, started the previous day, and is titled “DHS’ Security of Biometric Data and Personally Identifiable Information (PII).” “The objective of the audit is to determine how DHS and its components collect or obtain PII and biometric data related to immigration enforcement efforts and the extent to which that data is managed, shared, and secured in accordance with law, regulation, and Departmental policy,” Cuffari wrote. Cuffari’s letter does not specify the audit’s scope or which agencies, technologies, programs or policies would be scrutinized. In response to questions from CyberScoop, the DHS IG office indicated that the probe will initially focus on the activities of two department sub-components: Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the Office of Biometric Identity Management. ICE has become the most visible part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to expand data collection on Americans. The agency – along with Customs and Border Protection officers, who are sometimes mistaken for ICE agents – has played a leading role, helping build a large facial recognition database that DHS can use to identify not only people targeted in immigration raids, but also protestors and legal observers. The Office of Biometric Identity Management is responsible for overseeing these biometric databases—managing, storing, and analyzing information on Americans such as photos, fingerprints, iris scans, license plate numbers and other identifying data. Cuffari told the senators that the probe “will address a number of the questions you provided” in their own Jan. 29 letter urging the IG office to investigate “immigration procurement activities” at the department for constitutional and privacy law violations against Americans.

The Air Force now prohibits airmen from wearing Meta AI glasses and similar devices in uniform due to operational security risks. However, guidelines across the Defense Department regarding their use varies, with some services even experimenting with how smart glasses can improve certain missions. A uniform regulation update posted by the Air Force on Jan. 9 explicitly states that airmen are not authorized to wear Meta AI glasses while in uniform — a change made “for operational security purposes,” a Department of the Air Force spokesperson told DefenseScoop. The decision comes as the Air Force contends with potential vulnerabilities created by advancements in commercial electronic devices, said Dana Thayer, chief of information protection at the 104th Fighter Wing out of Barnes Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. Part of the impetus for the 104th’s warning, which was first publicized in an article written by Thayer last week, was the unit’s conversion to the F-35 Lightning II — a stealth fighter jet with sensitive components. While digital devices of any kind bring concerns of vulnerabilities, “Meta AI brings that to a whole new level of concern for the government essentially, or at least for us at Barnes,” he said. Thayer’s article said the Wing Commander, “directed the ban on AI glasses to be extended to include our civilian force as well as military members not in uniform.” Meta did not respond to a request for comment from DefenseScoop. A spokesperson for the Defense Department acknowledged the publication’s questions about whether the Pentagon was considering a force-wide ban and if it shared the Air Force’s operational security concerns, but did not answer them by deadline.

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