Surveillance expansionMar 20, 2026
Army Special Forces command renews Clearview AI facial recognition
The Army's 1st Special Forces Command, the Green Berets' headquarters at Fort Bragg, renewed five licenses for Clearview AI, a face-search tool the Army describes as drawing on about 50 billion images, many from social media. The Army specified Clearview by brand name and bought it through a reseller, for up to $339,415 over four years.
1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg bought five Clearview AI licenses by brand name; one offer came in. The award went to the reseller Octaris Technologies: $78,750 for the first year (signed March 17, 2026, for service from March 20, 2026 to March 19, 2027), with options through March 2030 worth up to $339,415 in all. The Army's requirements list "50 billion images" and "98% accuracy"; its justification memo calls Clearview "sole source facial recognition software" and cites a "99.85% accuracy rating." The 2025 subscription was also five licenses.
How we know: The Army's award record, solicitation, brand-name justification and requirements page read directly (Oct 3, 2026). Corrected Oct 3, 2026: an earlier version said "analysts only"; that was Biometric Update's inference, not the records'.
Source chain
- 01USAspending: Army purchase order W9124726PA016 to Octaris Technologiesprimary
- 02Army solicitation W9124726QA005, Clearview AI software licensesprimarydocument (PDF)
- 03Army brand-name justification memo (Feb 25, 2026)primarydocument (PDF)
- 04Army salient characteristics (Jan 7, 2026)primarydocument (PDF)
- 05Biometric Update, Feb 27, 2026
- 06Biometric Update, Jun 17, 2026 (reseller and award value)
What changed on this claim