The Department of Homeland Security will deploy an iris and facial recognition pilot this summer as part of an upgrade of the DHS's IDENT biometric system, reports US media.Border Patrol stations will collect iris and face images from citizens being processed through Customs and Border Patrol stations, a senior official told Nextgov. The data can then be shared with the FBI's multi-modal biometric Next Generation Identification database.”They've been collecting irises and storing the data with us,” Ken Fritzsche, director of the identity technology division at the DHS Office of Biometric Identity Management, told the publication. “Now, we're going to provide matching capability in a limited production pilot to CBP.”The Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) is used to determine whether individuals pose a risk to the United States, and whether they meet the requirements for a specific benefit.Fritzsche held a talk Monday at the 2015 Biometrics for Government and Law Enforcement conference on the usage of biometric quality standards.As of September 2014, IDENT contained more than 170 million biometric identities. It also handled approximately 290,000 transactions per day to support multiple DHS Components as well as DHS mission partners. A senior OBIM official confirmed to Planet Biometrics at the Global Identity Summit in Tampa that month that OBIM will receive US$20 million in extra funding to keep its existing identification system operating while a new database is developed.The DHS is expected to move forward with a new database within the next two to four years, with any new system expected to incorporate multiple biometrics such as finger, iris, voice recognition or even DNA if there is perceived to be a customer need.

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