FBI Dedicates New 360,000 Sq Ft Biometric Technology Center in West Virginia

Photo: WDTV 5

Government spying hasn’t been curbed in the least since Snowden’s leaks came out. It’s more just about having it rubbed in our faces every other five minutes than anything else.

Take the new state-of-the-art FBI biometrics facility opening in West Virginia.

“Tuesday started a new era for fighting crime and protecting our country with the dedication of the new FBI Biometric Technology Center in Clarksburg,” local West Virginia WDTV 5 reported.

Uh huh. Sure. Just like the $3 billion NSA spy hub sitting out in Bluffdale, Utah, right? For “fighting crime and protecting our country”? (Against us, the enemy?)

The new 360,000 sq-ft center, under construction since 2011 but in the works for eight years now, has been officially dedicated to house the FBI’s new biometrics facility.

Via the official FBI website for the “the Biometric Center of Excellence (BCOE)”:

By centralizing biometrics and having the serve as a one-stop-shop for biometric collaboration and expertise, the FBI’s ability to combat crime and terrorism is strengthened as biometric tools and technologies move more quickly from the laboratory to the workplace and into the hands of stakeholders and those protecting us.

Based in Clarksburg, West Virginia, the BCOE’s mission is to foster collaboration, improve information sharing, and advance the adoption of optimal biometric and identity management solutions within the and across the law enforcement and national security communities. To facilitate communication and collaboration across government, academia, and industry on the specific issues of central importance to the FBI, the BCOE established and formalized the following biometric priorities:

• Extend biometric technical capabilities;
• Strengthen forensic science and advance biometrics;
• Drive national biometrics; and
  
• Improve national security by developing and deploying biometric technologies.

Wonder what “emerging biometrics” really means to the FBI…?

The new facility has been heralded as a “unique collaboration” between the FBI and the DoD.

It has also been described as “an epicenter for research, development, and testing in biometrics”.

But it could also be called “another brick in the [electronic concentration camp] wall” or “one step closer to making the film [amazon text=Minority Report&asin=B00A2FSXHK] a reality”.