The U.S. Federal Investigation Bureau is collecting handprints, mugshots and fingerprints to build the world’s biggest database of physical characteristics for security identification, a spokesperson reported on Saturday.

A researcher at West Virginia University are currently working on technology for the FBI that will allow capturing images of people’s irises at distances of up to 15 feet and also faces from almost 200 yards away, without subjects being aware they are pictured.

This way, the FBI will have access to information of everyone who applies for visa to enter the U.S. The biometric information is being collected in a secure building in Clarksburg, W. Va., according to the Washington Post.  The authorities will be able, in the coming years, to identify people by their iris pattern in their eyes, the shape of their face, the way they walk and talk and scars, the Post said, citing the FBI’s information services division operating the project.

"We are consistently trying to update and improve the process and way to collect information," said Richard Kolko, the FBI spokesperson.

The data will be accessed by more than 900,000 American Police and law enforcement officials. The U.S. Defense Department has already stored images of fingerprints, irises and faces of more than 1.5 million Iraqi and Afghan detainees, Iraqi Citizens and foreigners who enter U.S. military bases, according to the Post.

In January, the FBI expects to award a 10-year contract to expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives, the newspaper said. The system also called Next Generation Identification will cost FBI almost $1 billion and its targets would be the terrorist and criminal suspects. However, the civil liberties group criticized the project and considered it unreliable.

"It's enabling the always-on surveillance society," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union, according to the Post.

President George Bush, on the other hand, said that innocent people would have no reason to fear from this project.
We need a system that is literally bigger, faster better. What we deal with is bad guys data, suspected terrorists or criminals," he said.