Opening information necessary to understanding who the players are

1) Under normal circumstances the Constitutional Alliance would send out communications to specific groups and/or organizations rather than send out one communication to as many people as we can reach both domestically and internationally. At one time or another we have connected with people in over 50 countries. To think the subject matter in this communication is relevant to only U.S. citizens would be wrong on many levels. There is no longer time to wait until all people consider the consequences of mandatory biometric enrollment. You may or may not know what a biometric is. Fingerprinting, digital facial imaging (high resolution digital facial images/photographs for use with facial recognition software), palm vein geometry, iris scans, DNA , and gait (the manner unique to each person and the way they walk) are all examples of what is referred to as a biometric. Biometric has been defined as individually unique measurements of the body or you might say the number of man. Regardless of what state you live in, if you have a driver’s license or other valid issued state ID with a digital facial image, or a federal identification document such as a passport, your biometrics have been collected by the agency or department that issued the identification document. This document addresses the question of whether mandatory biometric enrollment for all people is in the best interest of the people in the United States and around the world.

Often we hear people discussing what our rights are. For whatever the reason when speaking about our rights, the issue of the use of biometrics does not get the attention it should. Dr. Richard Sobel has written an excellent book titled “Citizenship as Foundation of Rights: Meaning for America.” Although the use of biometrics is not the focus by any means of the book, we at the Constitutional Alliance recommend the book (we don’t receive any monetary reward, should you decide to order from this link).  https://www.amazon.com/Citizenship-Foundation-Rights-Meaning-America/dp/110756803X

2) The largest biometric and identification document vendor in the world, Safran, S.A., a foreign company, is selling their biometric and identification documents division to Advent International. Advent owns Oberthur Technologies, another foreign company. Oberthur is a digital security business company.  The deal is worth billions of dollars. Oberthur is the company that would be integrating Safran’s biometric and identification document business with their own digital security business.

Federal lawsuit already playing out about largest biometric vendor

3) There is a False Claims Act qui tam complaint/lawsuit that has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Jose, California that raises extremely serious issues about the trustworthiness of Safran. MorphoTrust U.S.A. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Safran. I have done my due diligence about this lawsuit. I have spoken several times with the attorney who filed the compliant. We have discussed the case in general and specifically the evidence that supports the attorney’s clients’ assertions. Because of the qui tam nature and seriousness of this lawsuit, it was sealed for much of the time since it was filed on February 17, 2015. To say that I strongly encourage you to read the complaint is an understatement. Regardless of what happens in U.S. District Court, this case will go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. For my part, I will say I have a high degree of confidence, knowing what I know, that there is substantial reason to believe the qui tam plaintiffs/relators have a strong case. To be clear, the Constitutional Alliance is not accusing Safran of wrongdoing; the courts will make that decision. One key assertion in the case is Safran misrepresented their fingerprint technology as being French technology developed by Safran while knowing and concealing that it was developed by a Russian company with strong connections to the Russian intelligence service that actually developed the software  One – but not the only – question raised specifically in the lawsuit is the question of whether there is a backdoor in the software. The following is a link to the lawsuit (must read):

http://constitutionalalliance.org/page/morpho-sued-using-russian-made-biometric-software-usa-government-contract

4) MorphoTrust, the Safran subsidiary, does business in nearly all states, if not all states in the United States. Also MorphoTrust has with many contracts with law enforcement in different jurisdictions and intelligence agencies of the United States government. Regardless of what state you live in, MorphoTrust most likely provides the biometric software and other services necessary to produce your state drivers’ licenses. In many cases MorphoTrust does the maintenance and/or backs up the databases that contain your biometrics.

A very important question that must be asked is why do states in the United States use a foreign company to produce driver’s licenses and other ID documents, whether those documents are state-issued or issued by the federal government? Keep in mind as a result of a foreign company being used, the foreign company has access to much of our Personal Identifiable Information, including our biometrics. The United States is a superpower that has the leading and most innovative technology companies, many of which are in Silicon Valley; the United States should have a U.S. company  producing our ID documents. 

What the Constitutional Alliance has been doing

5) The Constitutional Alliance has not publicly published any documents going back to just before the 2016 election. We had intended to produce a video that addressed the sanity of states complying with the Real ID Act 2005. The fact that candidate Donald Trump became President Donald Trump had nothing to do with our not putting out any information publicly over the last several months. We made the decision not to produce the video for a couple of reasons. 1) It was apparent to us that all states would enact laws to become Real ID compliant; as it turned out we were right. 2) Since September of 2016 we became aware of many incidents that raised questions about MorphoTrust, and specifically the integrity of databases that contained the biometrics of U.S. citizens. This is not to say that we were not aware of incidents prior to 2016, but rather since 2016, the questions raised about the incidents that have taken place have reached a point of critical mass. One such incident involved the sale of the information of Louisiana residents contained in the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicle database. We sent out a media release a week ago about what took place in Louisiana. This week the media release was published in a Louisiana paper. The following link is a link to the media release:

Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicle Data Breach Press Release

6) Whether speaking about what took place in Louisiana or other related incidents such as one that took place in Oklahoma,all we know  – or for that matter all the public knows – is federal investigations were started. There has been no transparency about what federal law enforcement has learned. In Oklahoma, multiple tag agencies were burglarized immediately after receiving the new hardware and other material needed to produce Oklahoma driver’s licenses. It has been suggested that these burglaries needed inside help. We cannot speak to who the person or people are who may have provided the inside help are, but we do not believe anyone with the tag agencies or the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety were involved. We cannot definitively say that there was inside help, but we agree with those we have talked to that we do not believe in coincidences (i.e. the timing of the delivery of the new hardware and related material, and when the burglaries took place).

7) Earlier I noted that the information in this communication affected both U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries around the world. This was said because Safran is a mega-global company that does business across the globe. Just since 2012, Safran has been involved in multiple investigations including most recently the elections in Kenya a couple of weeks ago. We suggest you take the time to use the following two links to learn what just took place in Kenya:

http://mobile.nation.co.ke/blogs/–IEBC–on-how-it-chose-electronic-kits-safran/1949942-3898436-item-1-3fdapb/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A61UFje7eEI&feature=youtu.be

8) In Nigeria, not too long ago Safran was found to have committed bribery in Nigeria to receive contracts. There have been additional questionable activities involving Safran in other countries. The following is a link to what took place in Nigeria:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-19498916

The Constitutional Alliance and/or it’s members have warned people going back 15 years

9)  Long before any organization or group anywhere in the world started speaking about biometrics in the terms of international or global identification, the Constitutional Alliance warned people that the goal of governments and corporations was and is total global biometric enrollment. We published an article previously that addressed the issue of total global biometric enrollment;

http://www.constitutionalalliance.org/articles/total-global-biometric-enrollment

Hacking of biometric databases that have already taken place (a couple of examples)

In the article provided by the link above we correctly predicted there would be a major breach of a database that contained the biometrics of people. Such a hack took place when the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) took place. Millions and millions of people had their biometrics compromised. Law enforcement and intelligence people commented that the breach put at risk people in our intelligence and law enforcement communities. Please keep in mind you cannot replace your biometrics the way you can credit cards, driver’s licenses and so on. In subsequent articles published after the article we provide it was reported that actually over 5 million people had their biometrics compromised by the OPM hack:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2015/07/09/hack-of-security-clearance-system-affected-21-5-million-people-federal-authorities-say/?utm_term=.7fed982076d4

The following link is to an article from India where over 100 million people were affected by a hack:

https://www.hackread.com/indian-biometric-system-data-leaked/

How far along is total global biometric enrollment

The United Nations has called for total enrollment to be completed by 2030.

https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/transformingourworld

The following two links describe just how far total global enrollment has become, what is the goal, and how that goal is being achieved:

https://www.worldprivacyforum.org/2017/07/national-ids-around-the-world/

https://findbiometrics.com/world-bank-universal-id-29295/

Regarding the interactive map provided by the link above, you will see that the United States and Canada are not counted as countries with national/international ID’s. As a result of the Real ID Act in the United States and Canada’s membership with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) both Canada and the United States have national/international ID’s. The Constitutional Alliance has previously reported that identification documents all over the world are now meeting international standards for the collection, retention, and sharing of biometrics between governments. The standard(s) originated with the International Organization of Standardization referred to as the ISO. We see this standard in rules for implementation of the Real ID Act 2005. 

“The relevant ICAO standard is ICAO 9303 Part 1 Vol. 2, specifically ISO/IEC 19794-5 – Information technology – Biometric data interchange formats – Part 5: Face image data, which is incorporated into ICAO 9303.”

One final link is provided to illustrate just what is being done to facilitate global biometrics enrollment.

“By increasing communication and building a bridge with countries overseas, S2S will lay the ground work on improving our partnerships with countries around the world, all while improving our national security here at home.”

http://www.movemag.org/dmv-operations/119-crossroads-december

The population of India is approximately 1.25 billion people. This information is provided because often we are asked how would people living in remote areas of the world be enrolled into a global system of identification and financial control. The government in India has now enrolled about 90% of the population in their biometric program. Even in the most remote areas of India where there is no electricity and/or running water people have already been enrolled into India’s program named Aadhaar.

“Indeed, between 60,000-80,000 small laptops that include the installed Aadhaar system are used in remote villages for enrollment and verification. Laptops, generators, chairs and tables are transported to the villages via donkeys, and the systems are then set up in each remote location. There are currently 150,000 certified operators and supervisors who are trained and certified to operate an enrollment station. On average, each station enrolls about 50 people per day, resulting in approximately one million new enrollments every day.”

http://www.biometricupdate.com/201512/worlds-largest-biometrics-database-leverages-big-data-architecture

Biometrics: Support or Oppose

The Constitutional Alliance has never portrayed biometrics as a zero sum game, or in other words an all or nothing endeavor. We understand the legitimate need by law enforcement and our intelligence agencies for the need of biometrics, One such example is when speaking about correctional facilities. The real issue becomes should law enforcement be required to obtain a search warrant before requiring a person to provide their biometrics which does include their DNA. We assert that DMV databases should not be used as biometric repositories for law enforcement because in many states warrants are not required to obtain a person’s biometrics. 

States call for the collection of biometrics upon arrest and in many cases that includes DNA. Even should a person be found not guilty, the biometrics stay in the correctional databases. The same biometrics are now being provided in nearly all cases to the FBI for entry into the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) (biometric) database. From what the Constitutional Alliance has been able to ascertain, there are states that allow a person to go through the courts in order to have their DNA expunged.  That being said, from what we have learned the DNA is never truly deleted from databases, but rather sealed until such time as law enforcement has an official law enforcement purpose to unseal the DNA.

How many citizens have their biometrics in a state and/or federal database?

The answer is the vast majority of all citizens. If you have a valid driver’s license or other state issued ID your biometrics are in a state database; most likely at the least your Department of Motor Vehicles database. If you have a passport your biometrics are in federal databases. One out of two adults have their biometrics in the FBI’s Next Generation database. Often when background checks are done using the FBI, a person’s biometrics are also stored in the NGI database.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/memo-doj-facial-recognitions-threat-privacy-worse-anyone-thought

It is a fair question to ask why then should object to mandatory biometric enrollment? The fact is biometrics, epecially facial recognition are being used without the knowledge or consent of the citizenry for surveillance purposes. There is no federal law that prohibits the use of facial recognition. Between CCTV cameras, drones, smart phones, body cameras and other image capturing devices we have created a surveillance state. You cannot reconcile a free society with a surveillance state. This is not a partisan issue. All citizens should consider that once power is given to, or taken by the federal government, it is not going back to the people. Whatever laws people believe should be enacted, everyone must understand political power in the United States moves from one political party to another as elections take place. One party is in control today, but over the course of the next elections the other political party can take control. Information is Power: Power is Control. 

The Constitutional Alliance and others have written about the Chilling Effect of the creation of a surveillance state. There are dozens of groups that you may consider center right, center left or non-partisan that work together under the umbrella of what are called the Privacy Coalition and the Surveillance Coalition. We can tell you based on working with these two coalitions for years that we have learned a great deal from these organizations. We at the Constitutional Alliance learn something every week about invasive proposed legislation and/or laws as a result of belonging to these coalitions. The following is an article about the Chilling Effect of a surveillance state:

https://americanpolicy.org/2014/08/05/the-chilling-effect-of-domestic-spying/

Our ability to exist with the rights citizens have under our Constitution are becoming dependent on biometric enrollment

Rather than writing a great deal on this important subject it is best to just provide links to various pieces of legislation that Congress has in the past or is currently considering in some form. The bottom line is in order for the people of the United States to be able to conduct financial transactions, work, or travel, a biometric identification card would be required if Congress has its way. Now that all states have enacted Real ID compliant legislation, the proposed pieces of legislation listed below can move forward. There still is time for people to call and/or write their elected officials and object to mandatory biometric enrollment. We are also informing people that the Constitutional Alliance is part of a working group of organizations that is focusing on a constitutional challenge to the Real ID Act. We will be announcing the group’s effort and what people can do to support it, in the near future. The Constitutional Alliance is not taking the lead in this endeavor. We will not be handling any money for this project.

Legal Workforce Act – https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1147/text

Photo Identification Security Act – https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/hr1314/summary

Comprehensive Immigration Reform – https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/744

Moving the identification process from the ID document to directly on or in the body

Earlier on in this document we provided documented examples of biometric databases being hacked. We are reaching a point where there are people in countries including the United States that have accepted having RFID chips implanted in their hands. Not surprisingly the most common reason people give for doing this is convenience. Once a person receives the chip implant they have no need for cash or identification documents. Governments are not requiring this implanting yet, but we are warning people that day is coming. The inability of governments to secure databases, and to create ID documents that cannot be altered or counterfeited is why the ID process will be moved to directly on or in the body. We say on or in because there are RFID skin patches, and tattoos in addition to RFID chips. 

For Christians there is an additional reason to believe this will happen (Revelation 13:15-18). We realize many Christians believe they will not be here on earth at the time Revelation 13:15-18 will be fulfilled. For those Christians we say a responsibility of a Christian is to Save souls. If you know people will lose their souls, you have a responsibility to warn people of what is coming and what the consequences will be. Part of being a Christian is not just concerning yourself with what happens to you, but also what happens to others. 

U.S. company implanting RFID chips:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/25/technology/microchips-wisconsin-company-employees.html

This communication is not focused on the Real ID Act 2005 – but

The Real ID was proposed, passed in Congress and signed into law with the belief it will make our country  much safer. First, not in one terrorist event since 9/11 has any terrorist attack, domestic or otherwise that has taken place in the United States, been carried out by a person who did not already have their biometrics in a state and/or federal database. Second, none of the 9/11 hijackers entered our country using an alias. It does appear at least one tried, but in every case they did use their real names to enter the United States. Third, whatever it is the Real ID Act does do, the same things could have been accomplished by the federal government working with states instead of using coercion or bullying tactics to get states to comply with the Real ID Act. Fourth, as the Identity Project has so articulately pointed out, the Real ID Act 2005 has resulted a national database with AAMVA’s S2S platform. This platform not only allows for information to go to the federal government but also internationally. All states are not aboard yet with AAMVA’s S2S platform thus there is time depending on the state you live in, to contact your state elected leaders about this. 

In addition to the four items listed above it is a fact that a number of states issued authentic driver’s licenses to be in the United States illegally. I am not talking about the 12 states that because of state law allow undocumented people to acquire driver’s licenses. There have been Department of Motor Vehicle employees allegedly knowingly accepting money from people who were not in the U.S. legally, then entered fraudulent source documents and other information into DMV databases, resulting in authentic driver’s licenses being issued. This includes at least one Real ID compliant state and other states just waiting on Real ID certification. We are not talking about hundreds of driver’s licenses but rather thousands of licenses. Florida, Texas, and Kansas are a few states where this has happened. Colorado did issue to driver’s licenses to many people improperly, but that was not as a result of illegal activity, but supposedly because of an error by the vendor; a software glitch. 

An additional point about the Real ID Act 2005 that addresses a quote from former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security:

“Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff encourages the use of the REAL ID system for a wide variety of purposes unrelated to the law that authorized the system. In an opinion column written by Secretary Chertoff after the publication of the final rule in January (2008), he said, “embracing REAL ID” would mean it would be used to “cash a check, hire a baby sitter, board a plane or engage in countless other activities.” http://epic.org/privacy/id_cards/epic_realid_0508.pdf (page four) 

One final point about is our country safer today as a result of the Real ID Act. Sixteen years after 9/11 not one state is verifying birth certificates and ensuring that there have been no death certificates issued for the person that presents a birth certificate to get a driver’s license. In other words, it is possible for a person to get a driver’s license using the name/birth certificate of a deceased person. Only Virginia is doing what is possible to try and address this issue. New Jersey is in a pilot program to do what Virginia is doing. As of a month ago the program AAMVA had to verify birth certificates and check them against death certificates was suspended. The Constitutional Alliance will be addressing this problem in greater detail going forward. There are still two states, New York and Texas that have not completely digitized all their birth certificates and death certificates. We are having an independent source verify this information. We have verified it ourselves, but we always want an independent source to verify what we have verified ourselves. The Constitutional Alliance has a proposed solution to this problem that does not require a centralized database of all birth certificates and death certificates. Under our proposal birth certificates and death certificates would remain under the control of the state that issued them. We believe documents should be numbered; not people. 

The Constitutional Alliance. 

 The Constitutional Alliance respects the men and women in law enforcement and our intelligence community. They put their lives on the line for all people in the United States. Yes, illegal immigration is an important issue today. The Constitutional Alliance is not a political organization thus we do not promote any immigration legislation or policy. but rather look at any proposed legislation that would require biometric enrollment.  The Constitutional Alliance takes a similar approach about legislation and/or laws dealing with the War on Terrorism. We educate people primarily about biometrics. Our members are people who recognize our country was founded on Judeo/Christian values. The Constitution creates a separation of Church and State, thus nobody is required to be a person of any particular faith, or any faith if they so choose.

We do ask that you share this email with others you are in contact with. Please ask the others to share the email as well.  

Kaye Beach’s Religious Freedom Act lawsuit remains in the Oklahoma courts. Kaye is challenging the requirement to provide her biometrics to acquire a driver’s license. There is a second cause of action, Article II, Section 30 of the Oklahoma Constitution. Article II, Section 30 is essentially the same as the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We do not anticipate an update immediately, but will release an update when it is available. 

Finally, I want to thank the many people for their thoughts and prayers. I do not normally speak about my health. Two weeks ago my doctor found a second spot (area) on my right lung. For now it will be monitored. I am also going to another doctor to have several areas on my back and head biopsied. I have had two cases of pneumonia over the past 8 months. I have faith in God and trust that I will be able to complete the work I am doing.