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The FBI had a backlog of 1.8 million DNA samples (and climbing) when Trump came into office. By law the FBI collects DNA samples from all those who are convicted of a federal felony, all federal arrestees, and all people detained (primarily illegal immigrants at the border). These samples must be processed and entered into the national DNA database, the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), so that they can be matched to any other sample taken. State and local crime laboratories also submit DNA results to CODIS, making this a valuable resource for solving crimes—but only if the samples are actually processed.
Kash Patel made it a priority to process the samples, and he just announced that the backlog was down to zero. He put more money on the problem, moved personnel around, and changed procedures. Shutting down the southern border was a big factor as well because that reduced the monthly inflow of new samples to process.
Why did the backlog build up? Was it because his predecessor Christopher Wray was too busy hunting down those accused of parading on J6, traditional Catholics, and radical constitutionalists? Or was ginning up Russia collusion hoaxes keeping him too busy to pay attention to actual crimes?
Kudos to Patel and the FBI crime lab for taking care of business. It is a small story compared to the grand scale of problems facing our republic, but it shows how a dedicated leader can direct the efforts of the many committed men and women who serve our country in the right direction.
Discussion (17)
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Amen.
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Where there's the will, there's a way . . .
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[emphasis added]
Presumably some significant proportion of these folks are released without being charged with anything. But the federal government still has their DNA? This is horrifying.
(If that is in fact the law, then I recognize that my beef is with the legislature, not with the FBI. But still.)
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DNA giveth and taketh away. It is the technology that got a bunch of guys belatedly off of death row for wrongful convictions.
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Charlotte, I believe those ancestry websites and services can also scrap data for DNA for federal purposes. But just in case you didn't know the Federal Government has extensive facial recognition software. I've been through US Customs so many times and the only consistent thing is having my picture taken and face scanned through the system. typically now I'm not even asked for a Passport. The AI with this software is becoming about as good and certainly a lot quicker and cheaper than DNA testing. So I could possibly see this as a parallel, yet more widely used tech in the future.
The FAA is also moving for bio face scanning for KCM access and the badges may be either phased out or secondary. So it might be expanded from there. Airports certainly are more time sensitive and tightly controlled areas do this works there. Remains to be seen how well it expands.
On a side note the expanded use of Face AI ID scanning could be used for voter ID. That's one potential use for the positive side. Polls are supposed to be monitored anyway.
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