Fully operational face recognition and face capture, or FR/FC, technologies such as traveler ID checks at various U.S. ports of entry worked over 99 percent on average, according to a recently released report by the Department of Homeland Security.
The agency said Friday that the report tackles how it uses FR/FC technologies — which are artificial intelligence-powered capabilities — and how it governs them. It also details the results of performance tests carried out on such technologies by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, program teams and the Maryland Test Facility, which is home to experts in biometric research and evaluation.
FR/FC Test Findings
In addition to the operational reliability of FR/FC technologies, the report goes on to note that no performance issues were found across any demographic group when it came to the use of Credential Authentication Technology, a tool used by the Transportation Security Administration at checkpoints to authenticate IDs and flight reservations.
Concerning TSA PreCheck’s prototype Touchless Identity Solution, its face detection algorithm’s accuracy was found to vary between 88 percent and 97 percent. Face matching worked well but face detection on a photo sometimes failed. A manual photo capture step had been added by TSA as a corrective measure while work is in progress to evaluate new algorithms.
For FR/CR applications in U.S. Customs and Border Protection use cases, face matching was found to perform well, with the lowest success rate for any demographic group being recorded at 97 percent. DHS said it would continue monitoring the situation because the test that was used to evaluate the technology was designed to detect performance differences of 5 percent or higher.
The report also pointed out that while people interacted with various FR/FC processes within seconds, individuals aged 61 years and up tended to take a few seconds longer. Though the issue was described as being “not a cause for immediate concern,” work will nevertheless be carried out to ensure system usability across all age groups.
Excellent FR/FC Performance Across Demographics
On the whole, DHS Chief Information Officer and Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen said the technologies “performed extremely well for diverse demographic groups” and that “when minor issues were identified, we acted swiftly to address them.”
“We’re not perfect, but this report highlights how FR is delivering real value for the public and supporting critical law enforcement missions—while maintaining our commitment to transparency, accountability, and responsible AI use,” Hysen further commented.
