Five minutes to make an opening statement. Today the committee is holding our second hearing on the use of racial facial Recognition Technology. We will be examining the use of this technology by Law Enforcement agencies across the federal government. We had a broad survey of full range of issues, raised by technology. We heard from a number of experts about the benefits and the dangers of this technology across government and the entire private sector. Stark conclusion after our last hearing was that this technology is evolving extremely rapidly, without any really safeguards, whether were talking about commercial use or government use, the real concerns about the risks that this Technology Poses to our civil rights and liberties and our rights to privacy. The other conclusion from our last hearing was that these concerns are indeed bipartisan. As we saw at our last hearing, among conservatives and liberals, republic republicans and democrats thats a widerange agreement we should be conducting oversight of the issue to develop common sense, concrete proposals in this area. I truly appreciate the Ranking Members commitment to working together on this issue again in a bipartisan way. Today we will focus on the use of facial Recognition Technology by our government. Our committee has broad jurisdiction over all Government Agencies. So we are uniquely situated to review how different agencies are using this technology on the American People. Today we resident hear from the federal bureau of investigation in april the Government AccountabilityOffice Superintendent a letter to the department of justice with open recommendations on the fbis use of facial Recognition Technology. That letter stated, the fbi had not implemented these recommendations despite the fact that gao initially made them three years ago. Also hear from gao. Nat only on the importance of these recommendations which focus on transparency and accuracy, but also on the dangers associated with failing to implement them. We will also hear from the transportation security administration, which has launched Pilot Programs in the u. S. Airports that subject american citizens to a facial recognition system. Finally, we will hear from the National Institute of standards and technology on this. This has been the standard bearer of Biometric Accuracy for the past 20 years, and this will discuss the state of the technology, the rapid advancement of the technology, and accuracy challenges this Technology Still faces, and future plans for testing and monitoring progress. From all of these relevant actors and building this record of information is important as we begin to stress the use of facial Recognition Technology by both government and private actors and pointly develop legislative solutions. Well continue to hear from additional stakeholders through our subcommittees, each of which is tasked with a specialized focus, such as safeguarding the civil rights and liberties, protecting consumers, examining our governments republic we signatures of this acquisition of this technology and reviewing nantz securely concerns. I look forward to hearing from all of our witnessed today. Now with that i recognize the distinguished the senior Ranking Member of our committee, mr. Jordan for his opening statement. Thank you. I mean it, thank you for his hearing. We fight a lot on this committee, and i think we may have also vigorous debate tomorrow morning but today is a subject matter where we have a lot of agreement and a lot of common ground, and so i genuinely appreciate the chairmans wills nose have a second hearing on this important subject. Two week others we learn some important things. Facial Recognition Technology, there are all kinds of mistakes made when its implemented and those mistakesdive proportionately affect africanamericans the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment concerns when its used by the fbi and the federal government. There are due process concerns when its used by the fbi and the federal government. We learned over 20 states, 20 states have given their bureau of Motor Vehicles, department of motorcycles, the drivers license database given access to that to the fbi. No individual signed off on that when they renewed their drivers license. Didnt sign any waiver its okay to turn my photo over to the fbi. No elect officials voted to allow that to happen. No state assemblies no general aseptember blizzard no bills no governors signing something to say its okay for the fbi to have this information and now we learn when gao did their investigation and study into how the fbi implemented this, there were all kind mistakes the fbi mode how it was implemented. Five recommend that gao says your supposed to follow that the fbi didnt follow and all this happened oh, and its been three years for some of those they still havent investigatedded and fixed those concerns of the gao on facial Recognition Technology, and all of this happened in a country with 50 million surveillance cameras. This is an important subject and i again appreciate the chairmans willingness to have a second hearing and work knowing a bipartisan fashion to figure out what we can do to safeguard americans citizen First Amendment and fourth example Due Process Rightses a we go forward win. That, mr. Chairman, i yield back. Thank you very much. I now want to welcome our witnesses. Mr. Kimberly j. Degreco is the Deputy Assistant director of criminal Justice Information services at the federal bureau of investigation. Greta goodwin the director of Homeland Security and justice at the u. S. Government accountability office. Dr. Charles row rommine is the director of the Information Technology laboratory at the National Institute of standards and technology. And mr. Austin gould is the assistant administrator of requirements and capabilities analysis at the transportation and security administration. If you would please raise stand and raise your right hand. I will swear you all in. [witnesses sworn in] let the record show that the witnesses an net the affirmative. Thank you very much. You may be seated. The microphone are very sensitive so please speak directly into them. Make sure theyre on when you speak, please. Without objection your written statements will be made a part of the official record of this committee. With that, director del greco, youre know recognized to give your statement for five minutes. Thank you, chairman cummings and ranking mesh jordan and the member of the committee. My name is kimber del greg co, the ken diassistant democratic leading the Information Services branch with the fbis criminal Justice Information services division. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee. Im testifying today regarding the fbis use of facial recognition for Law Enforcement purpose. It is crucial that authorized members of Law Enforcement and non security communities have access to todays Biometric Technologies to investigate, identify, apprehend, and prosecute toriis and criminals. The fbis next generationesque or ngi system which will yous facial recognition aideness off an to solve crimes. Facial rebelling inning is an investigative tool that can greatly enhance Law Enforcement capabilities and protect Public Safety. At the fbi, trust is crucial. Protecting the privacy and civil liberty s of the American People is part of our culture. This is why when the fbi developed it facial recognition technologies it also pioneered a best set of best practices to Deploy Technology for Public Safety and keeping with the law and without interfering with our fundamental rights. The fbis division has two separate programs using facial recognition. The fbis interstate photo system or ips. Or the fbis facial analysis comparison and evaluation or Face Services ewan. Specially the ngiips allows authorized Law Enforcement agencies the able to use investigative tools of facial recognition by searching criminal mug shots. Law enforcement has put forms, photo lineups for decades. White the practice is not knew the eefficiency of such searches has improved using automated facial recognition if the fbis policy and protest ours emphasize that photo candidates concerned are not be considered positivesque. Thats searches are photos and only result in a ranked listing of candidates. The fbi years of the ngps to follow the implex indication guide and facial Identification Working Group standards for performing facial recognition comparisons. He the policy places legal, training and security requirements on Law Enforcement user odd the ngiips including a prohibition against sitting pro photos obtained without respect to the first and or Fourth Amendments. Photos in the fgiips repository are solely criminal mug shots ainquired by Law Enforcement partner with criminal fingerprints associated with an arrest. The fbi Face Services unit provides Investigative Lead support to fbi offices, operational divisions, and legal at day shays at day chaise bit attaches. And open assessments or active investigations against facial Images Available in state and federal facial Recognition Systems through stepped agreements with state and federal authorities. The Face Services unit only selves photos collected pursuant to the attorney general guidelines, as part of an authorized fbi investigation. And they are not retained. This service does not provide positivesque positive identification but an investigative review. The fbi has taken significant steps to advance the fbis facial Recognition Technology. At the end of 2017, the fbi validated the accuracy rate at all list sizes. In early 2018, the fbi required Law Enforcement users to have completed facial recognition training consistent with the face standards prior to conducting facial recognition searches in the fgiips. Additionally the fbi collaborated to perform the facial recognition vendor test and determined the most viable option to upgrade the current ngips algorithm. It has an accuracy rate of 99. 12 . I would like to thank the men and women of the fbi for their unwaiverring commitment. Im proud to be working alongside so many mission focused staff, protecting the country against horrific crimes. Want to thank the committee for their engage. Ment on this issue. Thank you. Thank you very much. Dr. Goodwin. Children. , armingening member and member offered the committee other. Pleased to be here today to gus gaos work on the fbisy of facial wreck nix telling nothing. This technology has as vannedded quickly and how has wide ranging usage from accessing a smartphone to social media, and to helping law Law Enforcement n criminal investigations. However questions exist railroading the accuracy of technology, transparency in usage and protection of privacy and Civil Liberties when the technology is used identity people based on certain characteristics. Today i will discuss the extent to which the fbi has ensured at hearns to laws and policies related to privacy and transparency, regards the use of face Recognition Technology. As well as whether the fbi has ensured its face recognition capable are sufficiently accurate. I also will provide updates 0 the priority recommendation that gao issued in april of this year regarding this technology. In our may 2016 report, we noted two legally required documents, the privacy Impact Assessment, otherwise known as the pia, and the system of records notice, the sorn were not become published timely. Theyre vote hall i important for privacy to transverse bought the pia analyzes how personal information is collected, stored, shared and manager while the sorn informs the public but the very existence of the systems and the types of data being collected. Among other things, the oj has taken action to implement the Development Pros of the poe o bus hat use yet to up date the process of the srns. We found that the fbi conducted limited assessments of the accuracy of the face recognition searches before they accepted and deployed at the technology for example, the face recognition system generates a list of the requested number of photos. The fbi only assessed accuracy when users requested a list of 50 possible matches and did not test smaller list sizes which mile have yielded different results. These tests did not specifies how often incorrect matches were return. The finn still deployed the the fbi still deployed at the technology. The fbi often uses face Recognition Systems operatessed by 21 state and two federal storm partner enhance the criminal investigations. We reported that the fbi had not assessed the accuracy of these external systems. As a result, they cannot know how accurate the systems are. Yet the fbi keeps using them. Moreover, we found that the fbi did not conduct regular reviews to determine whether the searches were meeting user needs. We made recommendations to address all of these accuracy concerns. Doj has yet to implement the recs. As you are aware, in april of this year, we issued or annual priority recommendations report which provided an overall status of dojs open recommendations and outlined those that gao believes be given high priority. This report included six recommendations related to face recognition. As of today, five of this six remain open. The use of use of facial races concern of the effect tischness of tech until aiding display. The protection of privacy and individual civil libels. This technology is not going away and is it only going to growso it will be important that doj takes step to ensure the transparency of the system so the public is kept informed how personal information is being used and protected, that the implementation of the technology protects individuals privacy, and that the technology and systems used are accurate and are being used appropriately. Chairman cummings, ranging member jordan and members of the committee, this conclude mist remarks. Im i have to answer questions. Temperature, dr. Row rome mine. Im chuck rommine, director of the Information Technology laboratory at the department of commerces National Institute of standards and technology, or nist. Thank you for the aunt to appear before you today to discuss nists role in standards and techest text for facial Recognition Technology. In area of biomitt tries nist has been working with and can private sectors senses. The 1960s and improves the accuracy, quality, usability, interoperatability and consistency of Identity Management estimates and ensures that United States interests are represented in international arena. Nist research has provide state of the Art Technology benchmarks and guidance to industry and u. S. Government agencies that depend upon biometrics recognition. Nist lead national and International Consensus standards activities in biometrics such as facial Recognition Technology but also in crypto graphing, software enand sims reliable and security conformance testing, all essential to access rail the festival deployment of information and communication statements interoperable, rely, securable and usable, i we report gaps and limitations of current bikeow metric wreck nix technologied nist evaluationses a mans measure up signs by provide a scientific basis for what to measure and how to measure. Nist eval weighs also facilitate development of consensus based standards by providing quantitative data for development of scientifically sound fit for purpose standards. Nist conducted the face recognition grand challenge and multiple bryow pet trick dropped challenge to challenge the faithrecognition community to break new grounds, solving Research Problems on the biometric frontier. Since 2000, nists Face Recognition Vendor Testing Program, or frvp, has assessed captain capables of facial recognition algorithms to one to many identification and onetoone verification. Nist expanded the facial recognition evaluation in 2017 to understand the upper hims of human capables