# Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard ![Two-toned blue graphic background with the name of the seminar in white on top.](/sites/g/files/omnuum8891/files/styles/hwp_5_4__480x385/public/2025-04/Seminar%20STS%20Circle_0.png?itok=lofjKFnq) #### calendar\_today Date and Time **April 13, 2026** 12:15PM - 02:00PM EDT #### pin\_drop Location **CGIS South, S354** [1730 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA 02138 United States ]() A light lunch is provided for those that register by 1:00pm on the Thursday before the event. ## Biometrics in the U.S. Department of Defense: From an Abstract Idea to Identity Intelligence ### Speaker - John Woodward, Professor of the Practice of International Relations, Boston University. ### Chair - Sheila Jasanoff, Faculty Associate. Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies; Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy, Committee on Degrees in Environmental Science and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School. ### Contact **Henry Austin** ### Abstract The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and subsequent armed conflicts greatly incentivized the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to leverage biometrics, or the automated use of physical characteristics and physiological traits for purposes of human recognition, to help identify national security threats. This presentation will explain how DoD biometrics went from an abstract idea in the late 1990s to robust wartime implementation, starting in 2003, with the development of DoD’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) and the collection of hundreds of thousands of fingerprints. From this global deployment, DoD intelligence policymakers formally recognized biometrics as a formal intelligence collection modality by 2013, with Identity Intelligence (IDINT) enshrined in official doctrine. This presentation will focus on how different US military, intelligence, and law enforcement organizations perceived the DoD role with respect to biometrics, how they interacted on biometrics issues, and how critical bureaucratic and policy actions were decided. Moreover, the presentation explains the important role played by the nation’s political leadership. ### Bio John D. Woodward, Jr. is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. During his twenty-one-year CIA career, John served as an operations officer in the Clandestine Service and as a technical intelligence officer in the Directorate of Science and Technology, with his assignments including operational and leadership roles in Washington D.C., East Asia, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. Shortly after retiring from the CIA in 2015, John came to Boston University to begin his work as a Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the [Pardee School of Global Studies](https://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/). John teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in intelligence and security studies. In 2019, John was made a Faculty-in-Residence at BU’s [Kilachand Honors College](https://www.bu.edu/khc/), where he mentors undergraduate students. In November 2023, Dean Scott Taylor of the Pardee School appointed John to be the Director of [BU’s International History Institute](https://www.bu.edu/ihi/). ## Register for in-person or virtual event [ Register to attend in person arrow\_circle\_right ](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14gS2RZUG6tOzbqFngo5LfsIA38bDZj-nhdNrWIm84hM/viewform?edit_requested=true) [ Register to attend virtually arrow\_circle\_right ](https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/Q_yEPl5pTe6Q9yl0XecMyQ#/registration) See also:- [ 2025–2026 ](/academic-year/2025-2026) - [ Science, Technology, and Society Seminar: STS Circle at Harvard ](/seminars/science_society/schedule) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#) Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/node/1934316/event-feed.ics) Copy link link