2016 Global Identity Summit

Sessions Speakers Exhibitors Products Press Releases Floor Plan Buzz

Federal Focus: Homeland Security (Room Tampa Convention Center:Ballroom A )

This panel is made up of subject matter experts who uniquely understand the refugee crisis from many different aspects including vetting identities, policy & privacy issues and humanitarian needs. A simple definition of "Refugee" is, "a person who flees his or her country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution". Currently there are over 20 million refugees in the world, most living in extremely difficult locations for years or even decades. Refugees need protection and assistance to survive and a key part of this is proper registration and secure identification of documents that increasing rely on biometrics. Each year the US resettlement program provides hope and new lives for tens of thousands of the most vulnerable refugees. This life-saving effort relies on having high quality identity information and complex coordination of multiple governmental and non-governmental organizations. This panel will shed light on who refugees are, how the US determines which ones come to the US, and how these refugees are vetted before arriving here. We will look at what has been done to improve screening of refugees, and what technology gaps exist in processing refugees, and how these could be addressed to improve the transition from a life as a refugee in a camp, to one of safety and opportunity in the US. Panelists include: Matthew Lenkowsky Branch Chief Security Vetting & Program Integrity Refugee Affairs Division, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Gustavo Valerio Program Manager Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Andrew Hopkins Chief of Section Identity Management and Registration Section United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees