FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
There's a good chance you've been hearing about the new installation security technology getting tested throughout Joint Base San Antonio. At least, I hope you have been getting the word.
This technology is new to JBSA, but it has been in operation at many other installations in the U.S. and around the world for several years. It's called the Defense Biometric Identification System or DBIDS.
This is a Department of Defense owned and operated system developed as a force protection tool, and we are required to use it to manage personnel identity and access onto our installations. We want to ensure that people entering our installations are who they say they are.
At the core of this system is a personal database which meshes with the Defense Eligibility Reporting System.
Everyone who needs routine access to JBSA installations are required to register their current DoD ID cards at one of the many sites available on Lackland and Randolph AFBs, and Fort Sam Houston.
I've included a list of those locations at the end of this article. People required to register include military members, civilian workers, contractors, dependents over 16-years-old and retirees.
When retirees register their ID cards, they will see no changes in access privileges.
A benefit of DBIDS in JBSA is once you're registered on one installation, you are automatically registered on all JBSA installations because we share a common database. In the long-term (still under development), once you're in DBIDS, you'll be registered for access to every DoD installation, worldwide.
The process is simple. Take your ID card to the registration site where it will be scanned into the data repository.
Your credentials will be authenticated and you'll have your fingerprints taken electronically.
The whole process takes about 5 minutes. During the DBIDS phase-in process, guards at the gates will use handheld biometric scanners which will be run over the bar-code on the back of your ID card.
This will verify the authenticity of your credentials at our access points. Many lost and unauthorized IDs have been discovered throughout the country thanks to this system.
Lackland and Randolph are currently operationally testing the system intermittently at the base gates, so you may encounter a backup from time-to-time as the process is refined.
I ask that you be patient and have your ID card ready. Fort Sam Houston has completed DBIDS installation and is conducting DoD ID card registration.
Eventually, this system will save time since the handheld scanners can verify an ID in an instant.
You may initially view the DBIDS registration and verification process as an inconvenience, but people who would attempt to enter our installations with nefarious intent will stop at nothing to fake or steal an ID.
Because biometric screening includes physical attributes unique to an individual and non-physical attributes, security breaches are far less likely.
That ultimately serves to protect our installation assets, most notably our workers and your families.
I'd encourage you to embrace the DBIDS process and register as soon as possible, because when the system is fully implemented in nine months or so, your routine entry to our JBSA installations will depend on it.
Fort Sam Houston registration sites:
Bldg. 367 (In/Out Processing)
Bldg. 1290 (Recruit area)
Bldg. 260, near 502nd MSG IG office
Lackland AFB registration sites:
Military Personnel Section, Bldg. 5616, Room 109
Luke Visitor Control Center, Bldg. 2196
Randolph AFB registration sites:
Visitor Control Center, Bldg. 1032
Military Personnel Section, Bldg. 399