Using Biometrics to Achieve Identity Dominance in the Global War on Terrorism

In the Global War on Terrorism, the relevance of biometric technology has grown exponentially. The military must achieve identity dominance, where U.S. military forces have the distinct ability to separate friend from foe by linking people to their previous identities and past terrorist or criminal activities. We can use biometric technology to achieve identity dominance and must deploy it to meet the requirements of force protection, actionable intelligence, and law enforcement. Establishing identity dominance through a comprehensive Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) will enable the U.S. military to identify friend or foe to keep America safer.
Originally published in Militart Review, p30-34, Sep/Oct 2005. This product is part of the RAND Corporation reprint series. RAND reprints reproduce previously published journal articles and book chapters with the permission of the publisher. RAND reprints have been formally reviewed in accordance with the publisher's editorial policy.