The Marine Corps has completed fielding of a new handheld, multimodal biometrics data collection system that gives Marines the ability to quickly connect with databases to help identify individuals encountered during various types of operations.
The Identity Dominance System-Marine Corp (IDS-MC) includes the handheld multimodal biometric Secure Electronic Enrollment Kit (SEEK), produced by Crossmatch Technologies, a laptop computer, and a badge printer.
The IDS-MC replaces the Biometric Enrollment and Screening Device (BESD), an earlier version of the SEEK, and is used to help deployed Marines identify individuals they encounter on the battlefield, at entry control point operations detainee management, border control, counterintelligence screening, and law enforcement operations.
“The IDS-MC is more convenient because it connects directly to the Marine Corps’ Tactical Data Network, allowing Marines to share data and submit biometrics and receive the responses effortlessly,” Sarah Swift, lead for the Identity Operations Team for Biometrics and Forensics Systems at Marine Corps Systems Command, said in a statement on Monday.
Marine Corps Systems Command said it could take days to process data collected by the BESD, which required data to be downloaded via a CD or DVD, and then submit the data through a separate computing system.
“This process was not only logistically cumbersome, but the latency in data submission and response receipt created force protection mission challenges for the Marine,” the command said.
The new devices completed fielding in September. The Marine Corps said biometric collections rose 154 percent and resulted in 11 watch list hits in the first month of fielding the IDS-MC.