F.B.I. and C.I.A. use a forensic technique called “vein-matching”

[Jeffersons Ghost]

New Report on Daniel Pearl’s Murder Reveals Forensic Analysis of Killer’s Veins
By ROBERT MACKEY

After studying the pattern of the veins on his hand, American investigators concluded that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a senior operative for Al Qaeda, wielded the blade that killed Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and executed before a video camera in Pakistan in 2002, according to a new report.

The report, “The Truth Left Behind: Inside the Kidnapping and Murder of Daniel Pearl,” by a team of journalists working at Georgetown University who “spent more than three years investigating the roles of 27 men linked to the 2002 kidnapping and murder,” was published online in conjunction with The Center for Public Integrity.

The report reveals for the first time that the F.B.I. and C.I.A. had used a forensic technique called “vein-matching” to compare images of Mr. Mohammed’s hands — after his capture in Pakistan in 2003 — with those of the man who beheaded Mr. Pearl in a graphic video.

As The Wall Street Journal explains:

The report is the work of the Pearl Project, a three-year endeavor to answer lingering questions surrounding Mr. Pearl’s death. The project was led by former Journal reporter Asra Q. Nomani, who worked with faculty and students from Georgetown University. It is being published Thursday by the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based investigative-journalism organization.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/new-report-on-daniel-pearls-murder-reveals-forensic-analysis-of-killers-veins/?scp=2&sq=cia&st=cse

[immoderate]

1. Terrorism is a law enforcement issue.

I'm glad to see these agencies can do good work.

--imm

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. yep

[TalkingDog]

2. If I didn't have such distinctive veining, I would have called BS on this

But every time I get my eyes checked by a new doctor (for whatever reason) they ALWAYS comment on how distinctive the veins in my eyes are. Seems the are rather convoluted. One Dr. compared them to Arabic writing. And almost as often I am cautioned about making sure my BP stays low, because those veins in my eyes are indicative of how they are laid out in the rest of my body. Seems kinky veins and high BP are a bad combo.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. It sounds like an"if looks could kill" scenario.

[TalkingDog]

4. Bahahaha!

[Eric J in MN]

5. "a forensics technology that has not been widely tested"

No scientific proof that vein-matching can accurately ID people.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. while it has not been "widely tested," veins are as distinctive as fingerprints right?

[Eric J in MN]

8. I don't know if they are. That is one of the big questions about this technology.

Without testing to see how many false positives occur, we don't know.