How Biometrics Helped to Identify the Master Terrorist

By Christine Gorman

A tool kit used to identify Osama bin Laden in his hideout was probably a lot like the handheld devices used by U.S. soldier.


When the U.S. military attacked Iraq in March 2003, it brought to bear the most advanced technology then available for identifying potential terrorists by their physical features. The equipment measured all sorts of physical features—from fingerprints to images of the iris—but it was not particularly easy to use. The apparatus weighed a hefty 50 pounds and consisted of a hardened laptop hooked up to a camera, an iris scanner and a fingerprint device.

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