Why It Matters A new Congressional Research Service report lands at a fraught moment: the federal government is deploying facial recognition technology at a faster pace than any regulatory framework can track, and Congress has yet to act. The report, published May 1, 2026, lays out the technical landscape, the expanding scope of federal deployment, and the civil liberties risks that come with it — all without a single comprehensive federal law governing how the technology can be used, who it can be used on, or how long the data can be kept. The central tension is straightforward: the Trump administration is aggressively expanding biometric surveillance across federal agencies while simultaneously pulling back internal oversight mechanisms. Congress is being handed a detailed roadmap for action. Whether it uses it is another question. The Big Picture The CRS report draws a critical distinction between two types of facial recognition systems. The first, one-to-one matching, verifies that a person matches a claimed identity, like unlocking a phone or confirming an airline ticket. The second, one-to-many matching, identifies an unknown individual by searching a large database, the kind used in law enforcement when a surveillance photo is run against a criminal database. That distinction matters enormously for facial recognition regulation. One-to-many matching carries far higher civil liberties stakes and, according to the report, far higher error rates, particularly for women, darker-skinned individuals, and older people. The report catalogs where federal agencies are already using this technology: - The Transportation Security Administration uses it to verify traveler identities at airport security checkpoints. - Customs and Border Protection runs its Traveler Verification Service for biometric entry and exit checks at air, land, and sea ports. - Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses facial recognition technology to support detention and removal operations. - The FBI operates the