Texas Border Bsuiness
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
A team of laboratory, data-management, and biometric examination experts within the FBI Laboratory recently used a combination of administrative and financial prowess, strategic cross-training, and innovation to resolve a years-long DNA-processing backlog, shrinking it from an all-time high of about 1.81 million samples to zero.
The FBI Laboratory’s Federal DNA Database Unit (FDDU) exists to intake and process DNA samples from U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) agencies and other federal law enforcement agencies, generate genetic profiles from these samples, quality check these profiles, and add them to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). This national database contains genetic profiles from crime scenes contributed by federal, state, and local forensic laboratories.
Historically, this tasking required the unit to turn around about 100,000 samples received from DOJ and other federal law enforcement agencies each year. But a federal regulation change that happened to coincide with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the unit’s workload to surge, eventually climbing to well over a million unprocessed samples.
Undeterred, FDDU completely eliminated the backlog in August 2026.
“We inherited a massive DNA processing backlog that kept critical information out of the system law enforcement uses to help solve homicides, sexual assaults, mass shootings, and other violent crimes,” wrote FBI Director Kash Patel in a social media post heralding the achievement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we made the changes necessary for this FBI to deliver.”
The history of the backlog
“Prior to 2020, we typically saw roughly 100,000 samples a year,” explained Michael S., a veteran FBI biometrics examiner who leads the Federal DNA Database Unit.
But a federal rule change in 2020 that started requiring law enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security to also start collecting DNA from federal arrestees changed that.
The resulting influx of samples caused FDDU’s workload to skyrocket. And that was only further complicated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“DNA work is not something you can do from home,” he noted. “However, we remained fully operational here as much as we could through that COVID period.”
Despite these efforts, a backlog—or the number of DNA samples still awaiting processing that exceeds the number of samples FDDU can typically process in a month—began to form.
“In the 2023 timeframe, we were getting 180,000 samples per month—which is over a million a year,” Michael recalled. At the backlog’s peak, in August 2024, about 1.81 million DNA samples awaited processing by the FDDU team.
“There were huge changes in many different aspects that we had to consider to even begin to address this.”
Michael S., unit chief, Federal DNA Database Unit
Rising to the occasion
This backlog didn’t just increase the small team’s workload—it also created the need for a larger team and bigger operating budget.
“There were huge changes in many different aspects that we had to consider to even begin to address this,” Michael explained.
The bulk of the challenge was growing the unit’s fiscal footprint, he said. Before the surge, his unit’s operating budget had essentially held steady for a decade. Following the uptick in demand, FDDU met their fiscal need through strategic internal partnerships. They used the additional funding to purchase additional chemicals and equipment for both the FBI Lab and partner agencies, as well as to onboard additional contractor staff.
This fortified workforce tackled the backlog in back-to-back shifts, processing samples and feeding the resulting profiles into CODIS from about 6 a.m. to approximately 11 p.m. each day. At its peak, the FDDU team was 90 personnel strong.
FDDU also focused on optimizing its workflow.
First and foremost, the unit needed to maximize the number of personnel it dedicated to sample intake, since that tasking proved to be its most difficult, manual, and time-intensive. They achieved this goal by training its contractors and cross-training personnel within FDDU and the larger Laboratory Division.
Next, it enhanced its information technology systems to speed processes and added the maximum number of new computer stations its space could hold.
Finally, it sped its intake process for DHS-provided samples by pulling in data from electronic forms instead of manually entering information from physical paperwork.
The team officially eliminated the backlog in August 2026.
“The backlog reaches zero when you are able to handle the amount of samples you get in a month, which is—we said—50,000 samples,” Michael explained. “We are well under that now [August 31], but back in earlier August, that’s when we hit that tipping point where we officially declared the backlog as being zero.”
“Our mission remains the same. How we do it, however, is going to change slightly with technology.”
Michael S., unit chief, Federal DNA Database Unit
Looking to the future
The backlog’s elimination has freed up the FDDU team to consider the potential tools and demands of tomorrow.
“Our mission remains the same,” Michael said. “How we do it, however, is going to change slightly with technology.”
For now, his team is leaning more heavily than ever into rapid DNA technology, which essentially shrinks the timeline and physical footprint involved in DNA processing.
“Rapid DNA instruments can now be produced that can create a CODIS-worthy profile within about 90 minutes,” he explained. “So, instead of having a large lab, as we have set up with all kinds of robotic instrumentation to make everything efficient, the technology is pointing towards a miniaturized version of that, that all takes place in a much smaller box—probably about the size of a large microwave.”
It’s also a more portable process, with the associated equipment being light enough to deploy to support FBI field operations across the United States.
The FDDU team recently traveled to Martinsburg, West Virginia, to provide rapid DNA support to Bureau personnel and law enforcement partners during the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office’s Operation Turf War. It marked the Rapid DNA system’s third-ever large-scale operational deployment in FBI history.
Ultimately, though, the FDDU crew feels a responsibility to stay ready for whatever the mission might demand next.
“We have to be ready to be able to be flexible and adaptive to any future challenges that come up,” Michael said.
Information source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
