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Privacy Rights in the Digital Age

Next Generation Identification (NGI)

by Carey Sias

A national repository and system of biometric identification services maintained by the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Over 18,000 local, state, tribal, federal, and international partners use NGI, which built upon the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) database of 70 million criminal fingerprint records and 34 million civil fingerprint records. NGI contains more than 230 million civil and criminal digital records of biometric, personal, and biographic data. The system represents a $1.2 billion investment by the U.S. federal government. Like IAFIS, NGI was developed by Lockheed Martin and employs MorphoTrak processing software and algorithms. It was deployed in seven increments between 2008 and 2014. In September 2014, NGI reached full operational capability and replaced the IAFIS database with advanced functionality and search capabilities. NGI also introduced additional services: Advanced Fingerprint Identification Technology, Repository for Individuals of Special Concern, Interstate Photo System, Latents and National Palm Print System, Rap Back Service, and Iris Recognition.

Advanced Fingerprint Identification Technology (AFIT) increases accuracy and lowers response times for searches within the fingerprint records database. New algorithms improved ten-print matching accuracy from 92.6 percent to 99.6 percent and decreased the need for manual print review by 90 percent. The system is three times more effective than IAFIS in matching latent prints to ten-print records when matches exist in the national database. Fingerprint examiners no longer need to specify which hand and finger may have created a latent print before conducting a search. Unlike IAFIS, NGI allows search capabilities across the entire repository. Some privacy groups worry that this larger pool of available data increases the risk of implicating innocent civilians as suspects in criminal cases.

The Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC) service is used in conjunction with mobile identification devices to screen individuals quickly. Mobile devices scan an individual's index fingerprints and compare them against records in a repository of Wanted Persons, Sex Offender Registry Subjects, Known and Suspected Terrorists, and others of special interest. Search results are retrieved in under ten seconds and show red-, yellow-, or green-colored flags identifying the probability of a match. If a highly probable match is identified with a red flag, officers may obtain criminal history information about the individual. RISC is used primarily when an individual is unable to provide proper identification or in situations when officers wish to assess the threat level of a situation. The service is free and currently used by over twenty agencies. The FBI estimates that approximately 1,200 RISC transactions occur per day.

The Interstate Photo System (IPS) is a photograph repository with a facial recognition component for image searching. As of 2013, the database included 75 million criminal history records with 16 million mug shots, or booking photographs. According to the FBI, by 2015, the collection will have approximately 52 million facial images in the following categories: 46 million criminal images, 4.3 million civil images, 215,000 images from the RISC collection, 750,000 images from a Special Population Cognizant (SPC) category, and 215,000 images attributed to New Repositories. Full criminal records in the NGI system may include mug shots and related ten-prints and arrest records. Civil records may include photographs collected during employment background checks. The FBI has not defined the SPC or New Repositories image categories. Although FBI representative Brian Edgell claimed that IPS will not draw from social media websites, passports, or department of motor vehicle (DMV) photographs, no formal restrictions prevent the FBI from collecting images from these sources. The FBI offers law enforcement agencies access to a free facial recognition toolbox, which can process 55,000 photographs and conduct tens of thousands of searches per day. Agencies may submit a photo image, such as a mug shot, and receive a ranked list of possible facial matches for manual review. The FBI estimates that a matching candidate will be returned in the list of top fifty candidates only 85 percent of the time when the true match exists in the gallery, but it has not clarified what will happen if the true candidate does not exist in the gallery.

The Latents and National Palm Print System (NPPS) improves latent processing services and introduced a palm print database. An estimated one-third of all latent prints may be attributed to palm prints. Millions of palm prints, originating from repositories in at least twenty-five states, are now searchable for the first time through NPPS. Fingerprint examiners can use the processing system to register new latent prints collected at crime scenes, compare these prints against all records in the database, and manually analyze probable matches generated by the system to identify a likely match. With NGI's enhanced processing capability, examiners can now conduct searches throughout the entire repository of all civil and criminal ten-prints, latent fingerprints, and palm prints at one time.

Rap Back Service continuously monitors a specified list of individuals and alerts law enforcement agencies when people in the file have new criminal activity. Monitored individuals include those under criminal investigation or supervision, such as former inmates released on probation or parole. Public servants such as teachers, bank tellers, and people working with the elderly may also be monitored, particularly if the state in which they are employed requires criminal background checks. Rap Back compares inbound arrest records against individuals in the database and automatically notifies state authorities within tweny-four hours if a monitored individual has been arrested before.

The Iris Recognition (IR) pilot program aims to evaluate existing IR technology through tests with agencies, private companies, and states that currently use it in criminal justice and other settings. For example, the New York Police Department has scanned irises of arrestees since 2010, and many correctional facilities use the technology to identify inmates. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense also collect iris data. The FBI may use findings from the IR pilot program to request additional funding for continuing operations.

Privacy groups have voiced concern about NGI components, particularly facial recognition services and the possible origins of biometric data maintained in criminal and civil files. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) each submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for FBI documents related to NGI. After the FBI failed to comply, both groups filed lawsuits to enforce the FOIA requests, compelling the FBI to release documentation, which EFF and EPIC then published online. The privacy impact assessment (PIA) for the NGI project has not been updated since 2008. Federal agencies that collect personally identifiable information are required to perform PIAs for new systems and make the assessments available to the public. PIAs provide notice of new government programs and technology, evaluate risks and privacy protections, and ensure legal and policy compliance as the project develops. The current PIA does not effectively restrict the types of biometric data that may be collected and who can access it, and does not provide guidelines for how it can be used and shared. In a 2014 letter to the Attorney General, thirty-two organizations, including EFF and EPIC, called for a revised PIA for the NGI program. EPIC states that a centralized database of personally identifiable biometric information operating under unknown restrictions and guidelines presents great risks of security breaches, mission creep, and the possibility for large-scale government tracking and surveillance.

Further Reading

1 

Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Transparency Project: FBI's Next Generation Identification Biometrics Database.” https://www.eff.org/foia/fbis-next-generation-identification-biometrics-database.

2 

Electronic Frontier Foundation and Jennifer Lynch. “FBI Plans to Have 52 Million Photos in its NGI Face Recognition Database by Next Year.” https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/04/fbi-plans-have-52-million-photos-its-ngi-face-recognition-database-next-year.

3 

Electronic Privacy Information Center. “EPIC v. FBI—Next Generation Identification.” http://epic.org/foia/fbi/ngi/

4 

Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Next Generation Identification—FBI.” https://epic.org/privacy/fbi/ngi.html.

5 

Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Spotlight on Surveillance—December 2013. The FBI's Next Generation Identification Program: Big Brother's ID System?” https://epic.org/privacy/surveillance/spotlight/ngi.html.

6 

Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Next Generation Identification (NGI).” https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/ngi.

7 

Vrankulj, Adam. “NGI: A Closer Look at the FBI's Billion-Dollar Biometric Program.” BiometricUpdate. http://www.biometricupdate.com/201311/ngi-a-closer-look-at-the-fbis-billion-dollar-biometric-program.

See also: Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC); Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS); Repository for Individuals of Special Concern (RISC)

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Sias, Carey. "Next Generation Identification (NGI)." Privacy Rights in the Digital Age, edited by Christopher T. Anglim & JD, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=PRDA_0153.
APA 7th
Sias, C. (2016). Next Generation Identification (NGI). In C. Anglim & JD (Ed.), Privacy Rights in the Digital Age. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Sias, Carey. "Next Generation Identification (NGI)." Edited by Christopher T. Anglim & JD. Privacy Rights in the Digital Age. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2016. Accessed September 17, 2025. online.salempress.com.