West Virginia Biometrics Initiative

MORGANTOWN -- Since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, north-central West Virginia's biometrics community has stepped up to play important roles in homeland security.

The region was well positioned for the task, according to Mike Kirkpatrick. A 27-year Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who led the bureau's Criminal Justice Information Services division in Clarksburg from 1998 until he retired in 2004, Kirkpatrick now directs the West Virginia Biometrics Initiative of the I-79 Development Council.

Before Sept. 11, there essentially were three biometrics "anchors" in the region, Kirkpatrick recounted.

The federal government operated the Department of Justice's FBI CJIS fingerprint identification division and the Department of Defense's Biometrics Fusion Center that evaluated identification technologies.

West Virginia University had established its biometrics and forensic identification academic and research programs.

"That was the situation on Sept. 10," Kirkpatrick said.

Then came Sept. 11 and, a month later, the war in Afghanistan.

Raiding American forces in Afghanistan found safes full of stolen blank passports from around the world, Kirkpatrick said, and learned that fighters they captured carried numerous passports with aliases.

"It became apparent that the traditional name-based system was virtually useless in terms of keeping track of this new enemy that had sworn frankly to destroy the U.S.," Kirkpatrick said. "The only way to really keep track of these people was to biometrically identify them."

That's where West Virginia comes in.

The FBI embedded agents and support personnel from Clarksburg with U.S. Special Forces to gather identifying information on those who were captured or detained.

"This (database) had never been done before by any country, and this was really the start of the biometrically based terrorist database based in Clarksburg, a new responsibility of FBI CJIS."

With the invasion of Iraq in 2003, West Virginia FBI personnel performed the same function and trained DOD personnel in gathering biometric information as well.

And West Virginia biometrics expertise came into play again as the US-VISIT program to apply biometric identification to foreign visitors got under way in 2004, Kirkpatrick said.

The FBI and DOD shared information with the Department of Homeland Security, effectively pushing U.S. borders out to embassies and consulates overseas.

"So this part of the world here has been really, I would say, the epicenter of a very important part of the war on terror -- that is, positively identifying terrorists and cataloging and databasing those identities," Kirkpatrick said.

"And those identities are going to be useful for protecting our country and your citizens for decades into future. It's been a significant effort that has paid off in ways that most people will never know."

Federal homeland security efforts in north-central West Virginia have required the support of local private companies.

One large part of that is the contractors who support the FBI CJIS and the bureau's billion dollar, 10-year upgrade, the Next Generation Identification (NGI) system.

Innovative Management and Technology Services, an information technology business headquartered in Fairmont, has grown as a subcontractor to the FBI.

"There are nine systems that FBI CJIS in Clarksburg supports. Lockheed Martin operates and maintains eight of them as prime contractor, and Raytheon has one," said IMTS President and CEO Chirag Patel. "We're the only small business subcontractor that sits across all of those."

IMTS has about 75 employees, nearly all of them in West Virginia and many supporting homeland security efforts.

Other local Lockheed NGI subcontractors in the region include Accenture, BAE Systems Information Technology Inc., Global Science & Technology and IBM.

On the DOD side, Azimuth Inc., headquartered in Morgantown, is one important local player.

"For us, the emphasis on biometrics and forensics has been a technically interesting 'battle space' to work in, and that is in my mind directly attributable to Sept. 11 and the global war on terrorism," said Azimuth President and CEO Craig Hartzell.

As a defense contractor, Hartzell speaks guardedly about his company's projects.

"I can say that we're actively engaged with infrastructure protection," he offered. "We're actively involved in supporting the global war on terrorism."

Now more than 20 years old, Azimuth has grown significantly in recent years, Hartzell said, and employs about 100 people at four West Virginia facilities that have 50,000 square feet.

Federal efforts for homeland security are growing, he said.

"It's changed the way the United States military fights war," he said. "It has been a game-changer. Really. Truly. No exaggeration."

And he credited West Virginians' contributions -- both in developing systems and in putting lives directly on the line.

"The defense of the country has always been a priority for West Virginia," he said. "With our aggressive, talented National Guard and our patriotic population, we're always in play in times of war."

Kirkpatrick estimated that a couple of dozen companies employing hundreds of people now support homeland security work in north-central West Virginia.

"We are a very unique location," he said.

"Between what the FBI does and what the DOD does, then you've got WVU, which has matured its biometrics program, the National Biometric Security Project here in Morgantown and a couple dozen indigenous companies that have the expertise in biometrics that we have here, I would say you'd have a hard time finding that anywhere else in world."