Homeland Security centralizes control over the government’s largest biometrics database

The Department of Homeland Security is streamlining control over the federal government’s largest database of biometric data, placing its chief information officer in control of the Office of Biometric Identity Management, a small but powerful agency technology office.

Antoine McCord, a former Marine and intelligence veteran who took over as DHS’s CIO in March, is now charged with overseeing one of the largest biometrics systems in the world, including a resource that houses more than 300 million profiles sourced from records of peoples’ faces, fingerprints, and irises. 

The decision to change management of the program — which powers systems used by DHS components including Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — comes from the Stephen Miller-led White House group known as the Homeland Security Council, which continues to evaluate the government’s approach to biometric technology. 

FedScoop reported in May that the group had initiated the review, which a Trump administration spokesperson said at the time was meant to ensure these systems “perform as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

As part of its remit, the council is evaluating the future of the Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), an aging system dependent on niche hardware that can sometimes process nearly half a million queries a day, as well as Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART), a much-delayed and overbudget project to modernize the country’s biometrics database with more current software. A large database of 200 million identities used by ICE and recently highlighted by 404 Media likely relies on OBIM systems, one source told FedScoop.

There’s also the Traveler Verification System, another biometric system run by CBP that’s used at ports of entry. 

A White House spokesperson told FedScoop that DHS’s Office of the CIO “is making significant progress in advancing” HART, “which will replace the legacy Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) as the Department’s primary system for storing and processing biometric and associated biographic information.” 

“The DHS Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been in close contact with the Homeland Security Council (HSC) regarding the future of biometrics technology and will continue working closely with them to ensure DHS meets its goals in alignment with the President’s agenda,” the spokesperson continued. “Transitioning oversight of the DHS Office of Biometric and Identity Management (OBIM) to the DHS CIO creates a unique opportunity to align biometrics technology investments across the Department, accelerate the delivery of HART, and prioritize delivering a unified biometric experience for DHS.”

The review first came to light amid personnel changes at the OBIM office; at one point, that upheaval briefly involved leadership telling employees to bring their own chairs to work. Around that time, DOGE was also called in to share input on the future of the biometrics systems. 

Two sources told FedScoop in May that it didn’t seem as if DOGE was able to access OBIM systems directly. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by FedScoop that produced no documents, a public records officer said OBIM has not received any request for DOGE accounts. 

Under the Biden administration, management of HART was at one point brought under the management of the DHS CIO. 

DHS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.