VA rolls out CLEAR login option and in-person identity verification pilot
The Department of Veterans Affairs is introducing CLEAR as a login option for VA.gov, alongside a pilot program that lets veterans use facial recognition for in-person identity verification to access their accounts.
Why this matters: Veterans already give the government an enormous amount of personal data. Adding facial recognition to that relationship is not a small step. Biometrics are different from passwords — you cannot change your face if something goes wrong. The VA is a trusted institution for millions of people, but trust is not the same as oversight. Who stores the biometric data, how long they keep it, and what happens if it is misused are questions that should be answered before veterans are nudged toward scanning their faces to get benefits they are already owed.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · Policy
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