Australian biometric system to meet national security objectives–Part II legislation and policy

Biometric technical capabilities enable the collection, storage, transmission, sharing, matching, and analysis of biometrics to enable decision making and actioning in support of national security objectives. United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2396 (2017) and UNSCR 2322 (2016) calls upon member states to investigate foreign terrorist fighters and share biometrics and contextual information, which requires a close alignment between military operations, border security, and law enforcement investigations. A system of systems design of biometrics technical capabilities allows for closer alignment between relevant entities to support national security objectives. However, this alone is not sufficient and there is a need for legislation and organizational policy to enable national and international biometrics collection, storage, transmission, sharing, matching, analysis and actioning. This paper discusses the complex Australian legislative and policy considerations to enable the biometric system to support the criminal justice, law enforcement, military and intelligence systems to meet national security objectives. Sharing of biometrics data and contextual information to meet national security objectives need to be balanced with privacy concerns and civil liberty.