**GAO-11-276**                      Published: Mar 31, 2011. Publicly Released: May 02, 2011.                  

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## Highlights

Biometrics technologies that collect and facilitate the sharing of fingerprint records, and other identity data, are important to national security and federal agencies recognize the need to share such information. The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to spend $3.5 billion for fiscal years 2007 to 2015 on biometrics. GAO was asked to examine the extent to which DOD has (1) adopted standards and taken actions to facilitate the collection of biometrics that are interoperable with other key federal agencies, and (2) shares biometric information across key federal agencies. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed documents including those related to standards for collection, storage, and sharing of biometrics; visited selected facilities that analyze and store such information; and interviewed key federal officials.

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## Topics

National Defense

Biometric identificationBiometricsData collectionDefense capabilitiesFederal agenciesFingerprintsIdentity verificationInformation accessInformation disclosureInteragency relationsInteroperabilityStandardsInformation sharing