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Which US government agencies are involved in collecting biometric data from international travelers?
Executive Summary
The US government’s biometric collection for international travelers is led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and executed primarily by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), with key technical and sharing roles performed by DHS components such as the Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) and systems that interoperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Defense (DoD). Recent rulemaking and program descriptions show CBP expanding mandatory photograph and other biometric collection at entry and exit points nationwide, with data stored and shared across DHS biometric repositories and interoperable federal systems [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. A major federal push: DHS and CBP are central and expanding biometric capture at borders
The Department of Homeland Security formalized a rule that requires photographing all noncitizens entering and departing the United States and removes earlier pilot limitations, enabling nationwide implementation at airports, land ports, and seaports; CBP is named as the agency that will operationalize that rule and collect photographs and potentially other modalities to verify identity and enforce immigration laws [1] [5]. The rule’s stated objectives are national security, visa fraud prevention, and status maintenance verification, and it mandates partners to meet business and data-handling requirements including encryption and purge protocols after transmission to CBP, signaling an enterprise-wide DHS approach rather than a narrow pilot program [1] [2].
2. Technology backbone and operations: TVS, IDENT, HART, and OBIM coordination
CBP operates Traveler Verification Service (TVS) as a cloud-based matching capability and relies on DHS biometric repositories such as IDENT and the Office of Biometric Identity Management to store, compare, and share biometric records; DHS has indicated data will be retained long-term—up to decades in some systems—and may be moved into broader enterprise systems such as HART, showing an architectural shift toward centralized biometric identity management across DHS components [6] [3] [2] [7]. The operational picture is one of CBP as collector and front-line matcher, supported by OBIM and DHS enterprise systems for storage, analytics, and downstream sharing with partner agencies.
3. Interagency sharing: FBI and DoD links expand the footprint beyond DHS
Federal biometric systems are interoperable: the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) and the DoD’s biometric systems connect with DHS systems like IDENT, enabling fingerprint, facial, and other modality exchanges for criminal justice, national security, and immigration purposes; the FBI, DoD, and DHS therefore all have roles in the lifecycle of biometric data collected from travelers when investigations or national-security needs arise, which broadens the set of federal actors who can access or receive biometric information [4] [7]. This interoperability creates an ecosystem in which CBP collection feeds a federal network used by law enforcement and defense partners.
4. Privacy controls and retention: promises on paper, long retention in practice
DHS rulemaking and CBP documentation describe measures—encryption, access controls, audits, and purge agreements with data partners—to protect sensitive information, and CBP claims short retention for US citizens’ images in some workflows; however, the rule and program descriptions also state that DHS may retain noncitizen records for extended periods (e.g., up to 75 years) and transmit to enterprise systems, indicating a tension between privacy safeguards and long-term retention that expands the government footprint in travelers’ biometric records [1] [2] [3].
5. Timeline and operational impact: immediate rule effect and industry consequences
The finalized DHS rule takes effect in late 2025 and directs CBP to implement nationwide entry–exit biometric collection, with agencies like TSA already leveraging CBP galleries for touchless matching for trusted travelers, and airlines/ports expected to adjust operations to comply; these changes are presented as aligning with international trends in biometric travel but will alter processing at ports of entry and increase routine biometric capture for visitors, placing operational burden on carriers and ports while integrating more travelers into federal biometric systems [2] [6] [5].
6. What the analyses agree on — and what they leave out
All analyses concur that CBP is the principal collector under DHS direction, that OBIM and DHS biometric repositories provide the technical core, and that FBI/DoD systems interoperate for law enforcement and national security uses [5] [3] [4]. The compiled sources emphasize security rationales and data-protection provisions but leave unanswered operational specifics such as precise modalities collected at every port, granular access rules across agencies, redress mechanisms for travelers, and how interagency access will be audited in practice—omissions that matter for civil-liberties and compliance oversight debates [1] [7].