The U.S. Marine Corps and the Army are fielding a portable device that works to analyze biological information and help warfighters verify the identities of individuals they come across during operations.
The biometric enrollment and screening device aims to facilitate high-risk security measures that include base access, border control, counterintelligence screening and other law enforcement strategies, the Marines said Tuesday.
In May, the Marine Air-Ground Task Force Command, Control and Communications program manager in May approved the device, which works to match facial and genetic features of subjects with data stored in its internal database.
âThe BESD provides Marines the ability to identify friendly or neutral individualsâ true identities while denying the enemy anonymity,â said Ilich Bello, a senior program analyst from MCSCâs force protection systems team.
âIt supports the biometric enterprise requirement to capture forensic-quality rolled fingerprints, and meets Department of Defense and FBI standards,â Bello added.
Bello also said testing of the device took place over a full year.
The command and control training center at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, as well as the I, II and III Marine Expeditionary Forces have started using the device.
More than 2,000 coalition warfighters and Marines have been trained to use the BESD, which has placed some 300 out of 19,000 persons of interest on a watchlist.
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@USMC offers @USArmy biometrics identification device for battlefield ops in Afghanistan #GovCon