By Calvin Biesecker
Based on the development and testing of a series of prototype tactical biometric collection and matching devices the past few years, the Navy is moving toward a program of record for the Identity Dominance System (IDS), which is aimed at denying anonymity to adversaries at sea and on land, a Navy official told sister publication TR2.
The focus of the IDS is to find adversaries “and to help sailors and Marines make decisions faster on the battlefield and at sea,” said Capt. John Boyd, director, Department of Navy, Identity Management Capability. “So that runs the range from personnel on surface combatants, expeditionary strike groups, carrier strike groups performing maritime inspection operations. It can involve Naval Expeditionary Combat Command, riverine operations, Marines performing a raid in theater or in other areas.”
Boyd also said that even humanitarian assistance missions have been discussed as possible applications.
“The broader aspect of being able to make decisions faster could be used for friendly personnel as well as adversaries,” he said.
In addition, the Capabilities Development Document that was approved for IDS also includes the needs of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Boyd said. NCIS has law enforcement responsibilities. The service has also kept in touch with the Coast Guard, which has deployed biometrics at sea in the Florida Straits and Mona Passage.
“As we develop the IDS we want to make sure that it can be used for the military type operation and law enforcement operations,” Boyd said.
The IDS will be a handheld, multi-modal biometric collection and matching system. It follows a line of rapid deployment and prototype efforts including the Expanded Maritime Interception Operations Identity Dominance Toolset, the Tactical Biometric Collection and Matching System, and SIIMON (System for Intelligence and Identity Dominance) Blocks I and II. Testing of SIIMON Block II began over the summer.
“We’ve made great strides in developing the technology that can be transitioned to the full program of record, and it’s at the point now that the program office is more tailoring what they need for the remaining capability gaps,” Boyd said.
The program is working toward a March 2010 decision to begin Engineering and Manufacturing Development, which is Milestone B in Pentagon acquisition parlance. Before arriving at Milestone B, the Navy must have an acquisition strategy approved Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.
“Throughout this program, the Navy Department expects to engage heavily in small businesses to fulfill the program requirements, leading to a production contract award in 2012,” Boyd said in a follow-up written reply to questions. “The production contract is expected to be a small business innovation research (SBIR) Phase III award to take advantage of the competitive SBIR Phase II work that will begin in January 2010.”
The budget request for IDS in FY ’10 is $4.8 million for research, development, testing and evaluation. The program received $2.8 million in FY ’09. In addition to the development work, the funding also supports the acquisition documentation such as the test and evaluation master plan and the acquisition strategy and management plan, Boyd said.
While IDS is the identity management system furthest along in terms of being a program, the Navy and Marine Corps are leading a joint effort tentatively called the Joint Identity Enabled Physical Access Control Capability (JIPAC). JIPAC is focused on improving the ability of the armed forces to authenticate and authorize personnel coming onto bases and installations, Boyd said.
The JIPAC effort is the concept phase, gathering requirements and putting together small pilot projects to test concepts that would include biometrics and other capabilities, Boyd said. In addition to being able to more accurately authenticate and authorize personnel, it’s also important that the information be “rapidly” transmitted to anyone that has the authority to see it, such as a gate guard or base security, he added.
“What we’re trying to do is develop the architecture from a holistic standpoint and make sure that we’ve really accurately determined the operational requirements, add that to the architecture, and develop a program so that we can determine the best of the best and coalesce those technologies into a full program of record,” Boyd said. “Hopefully, that will be delivered jointly.”
U.S. Northern Command and the Joint Staff Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment Directorate (J8) are key proponents of the JIPAC effort, he said.
Policy work behind JIPAC is as important as making sure the technology is available. Boyd said that the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence has the lead for developing the access control policy.
Boyd also said that cyber security has emerged as a key facet of any discussion on identity management. That’s because of the need for secure communications, the need to protect biometric data, and also to ensure the integrity of anyone involved in a system, he said.