SurveillanceNSA, other agencies, collect millions of images for large facial recognition databases

The NSA, through its global surveillance operations, has been accumulating millions of images from communication interceptions for use in high-level facial recognition programs, according to classified 2011 documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

The agency’s reliance on facial recognition technology has evolved significantly over the last four years. The technology continues to advance to exploit the numerous images included in e-mails, text messages, social media, video conferences, and other forms of digital communications. Already, facial recognition has revolutionized the way intelligence targets are found and tracked, complementing voice and written communications.

The Boston Globe reports that the NSA intercepts “millions of images per day,” including roughly 55,000 “facial recognition quality images,” which translates into “tremendous untapped potential.” “It’s not just the traditional communications we’re after: It’s taking a full-arsenal approach that digitally exploits the clues a target leaves behind in their regular activities on the net to compile biographic and biometric information” that can help “implement precision targeting,” noted a 2010 document.

Critics are concerned that the growing technology used by government and industry could erode privacy. “Facial recognition can be very invasive,” said Alessandro Acquisti, a researcher on facial recognition technology at Carnegie Mellon University. “There are still technical limitations on it, but the computational power keeps growing, and the databases keep growing, and the algorithms keep improving.”

A 2011 NSA PowerPoint presentation displays photographs of an unidentified man in different settings, along with data points about him, including his passport and visa status, whether he was on the TSA no-fly list, known associates or suspected terrorist ties, and comments about him by informants to U.S. intelligence officials.

The documents do not reveal how many people have been targeted with facial recognition programs, but given the NSA’s foreign intelligence mission, a bulk of the imagery collected would involve foreign nationals. Since the agency considers images a form of communications content, the NSA would be required to obtain court approval before gathering images of Americans through its surveillance programs, just as it must to monitor their e-mails or phone conversations, according to Vanee Vines, an agency spokeswoman. Cross-border communications in which an American might be sending or receiving an image to or from a foreign national targeted by the NSA would be exempted.

The State Department has what is considered the largest facial imagery database in the federal government, storing millions of photographs of American passport holders and foreign visa applicants. DHS is also funding pilot projects with local law enforcement agencies around the nation to match suspects against faces in large crowds.

The NSA, however, relies on images accumulated through interception of private communication. “We would not be doing our job if we didn’t seek ways to continuously improve the precision of signals intelligence activities — aiming to counteract the efforts of valid foreign intelligence targets to disguise themselves or conceal plans to harm the United States and its allies,” said Vines.

The NSA has denied having access to photographs in state databases of driver’s licenses or State Department photos of Americans, but the agency declines to say whether it has access to photos of foreign visa applicants. The agency has also declined to comment on whether it collects images of Americans from social media sites through means other than communication intercepts.