Facial Recognition for National Security Investigations
Description
This use case addresses the challenge of identifying individuals of interest in authorized national security investigations.
Detailed example
Investigators submit facial photos obtained through lawful investigative means to an AI-enabled facial recognition service. The service compares these photos to publicly available online images to find visually similar faces. It returns candidate matches and links or references to the public sources where those images appear so investigators can review them in context and evaluate whether they may be relevant to a case.
AI / analytics pattern
Computer Vision: AI that processes and interprets visual data (e.g., images and videos).
Automation level / stage
c) Deployed – The use case is being actively authorized or utilized to support the functions or mission of an agency.
Expected benefit
The facial recognition service helps investigators reduce the time needed to manually search for images and associated information online. By surfacing potentially relevant images that might otherwise be missed, it can improve the speed and effectiveness of national security investigations and allow investigators to focus their efforts on analysis, corroboration, and case-building.
Controls / human review
ATO: Yes; PIA: https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy-pia-ice-frs-054-may2020.pdf
Data needed
Law Enforcement Sensitive (LES)