The FBI and Pentagon worked closely with experts on facial recognition technology that could be used to identify people on footage captured from street cameras or drones.
New information about the government’s research was revealed in a trove of thousands of documents released as part of an open records lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the FBI, according to The Washington Post. The facial recognition technology sought would significantly boost the government’s surveillance capabilities.
The program was underwritten by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), part of the U.S. Intelligence Community. An IARPA program manager described the goal of the project in 2019 as to “dramatically improve” U.S. facial recognition tools with “scaling to support millions of subjects.”
The FBI is “committed to the responsible use of facial recognition technology ensuring it appropriately respects individuals’ privacy and civil liberties,” the bureau told the Post in a statement. The Department of Defense did not immediately return The Daily Wire’s request for comment.
The research into facial recognition technology has alarmed some on Capitol Hill. Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced legislation on Tuesday that would prohibit the government from using facial recognition technology and other biotech tools, according to Nextgov.
