‘Buy American’ Exemption for Facial Recognition Poses National Security Threat, Says Rank One

Rank One is once again raising the alarm about the security of United States infrastructure, and is urging the White House to amend ‘Buy American’ rules to further ensure that potentially adversarial technologies aren’t being imported into American infrastructure.

In a statement, the facial recognition leader pointed specifically to an Executive Order issued back in President Biden’s first week in office. Executive Order 14005, “Ensuring the Future is Made in All of America by All of America’s Workers”, was broadly aimed at reassessing some of the waivers and exemptions present in ‘Made-in-America’ laws, and offered proposed reforms that would help to ensure that the federal government is procuring products from American companies.

Now, Rank One wants the White House to take action, particularly with respect to a longstanding exemption to commercial IT products. The company noted that this exemption was implemented 15 years ago, and that it is no longer appropriate in the current cybersecurity landscape.

“The exemption should be removed at minimum with respect to software such as facial recognition that powers critical government applications, and federal procurement should emphasize a strong bias in favor of using trusted, U.S.-made software solutions,” the company said.

Rank One knows what it’s talking about. The company is a U.S.-based leader in facial recognition technology, offering a solution that has delivered impressive results in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Ongoing Face Recognition Vendor Test.

Rank One is also emerging as a leading industry voice in the call for ethical guidelines for AI and facial recognition. And for those who shares the company’s concerns, the importance of a Buy American approach to these technologies is readily apparent in consideration of the abuses that facial recognition is enabling in countries like China.

Ethical considerations aside, though, Rank One believes there is a strong self-interest-driven case for a Buy American approach to facial recognition.

“Due to the gravity of potential harm that could arise from Artificial Intelligence-based attacks by foreign adversaries, trusted U.S. technology providers should be strongly preferred by federal government customers and domestic companies who take IT security risks serious,” said Rank One COO and General Counsel David Ray.

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November 11, 2021 – by Alex Perala