Global Collections Program

Through the Global Collections Program, we foster national and international relationships related to biometrics in support of counterterrorism and other law enforcement efforts. Our initiatives include:

• The Foreign Biometric Exchange (FBE) Program: This program’s primary mission is to collect high value biometrics obtained from foreign law enforcement partners. The biometric records pertain to individuals of interest to partner countries, the United States, or the international law enforcement community, and include individuals associated with or appropriately suspected of terrorist activity, egregious crimes, or transnational criminal activity.
• Quick Capture Platform: This is a rapid deployment team whose members are prepared to deploy within four hours to support national and international special security events, critical incidents,  and other emergency operations with rapid identification services. Flyaway teams use electronic fingerprint capture devices and query FBI, Department of Defense, and DHS criminal fingerprint databases.
• Flyaway Program: This fingerprint capture tool is an advancement of the highly successful QCP kits, which were initially developed for combat theater operations and enabled frontline investigators to collect, store, and match fingerprint data. The MBA, which can be used with an FBI-issued smart phone or tablet, is new technology and quickly became a game-changer when deployed in 2016. The MBA and fingerprint scanner will allow FBI agents and task force officers to quickly determine positive identification of suspected persons, internationally and domestically, making it more conducive to conduct expeditious field operations.
• Preventing and Combating Serious Crime (PCSC) Initiative: As part of the Visa Waiver Program, partner nations are required to enter into a PCSC agreement to share criminal and terrorist biometrics with the U.S. The Criminal Justice information Services Division acts as the technical implementer for the Department of Justice to provide connectivity between U.S. and partner nation biometric systems.

Checks on Employees of Banks and Related Entities

Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) Checks on Employees of Banking-Related Institutions or Entities

Public Law 92‑544 (found in the notes to 28 United States Code § 534) authorizes the FBI to exchange records "with officials of federally chartered or insured banking institutions to promote or maintain the security of those institutions." The same broad language is used in the regulation governing such checks at 28 CFR § 50.12(a).

Pursuant to this authority, the banking industry for many years has conducted criminal history record information (CHRI) checks on employees of federally chartered or insured banking institutions. Due to evolving business practices and methods of operation in the banking industry, the FBI has received requests from the industry for clarification of the authority to conduct CHRI checks on employees of other entities, such as bank subsidiaries, holding companies, and contractors, that have a direct relationship with a banking institution, affecting the security of the institution, and the authority to provide the results of the CHRI checks to officials of bank holding companies involved in the human resource decisions of banking institutions held by such companies. The FBI takes this opportunity to clarify that: (1) employees of bank subsidiaries, holding companies and contractors who are intimately involved in the management or operations of a banking institution or who otherwise have access to a bank’s restricted areas, infrastructure, or assets, may be subject to CHRI checks, and (2) officials to whom criminal history record checks results may be returned include officials of bank holding companies who are involved in the human resource decisions of banking institutions held by such companies.