[Ecks]

I highly doubt they are using thermal in this capacity, while it is good for overall shapes, getting clear details with thermal is very hard to do and facial recognition needs specific details in order to properly "flag" someone.
They will either be using Google's algorithm (which goes through a database matching points)or the Russian one(which is slightly broader because it tries to match up the picture of you to it's photo database, it sounds slow but it has proven to be faster and more accurate than Googles as long as the subject has images of them), the reason they won't be using the Government's algorithm is because it needs to match a very specific series of points (like fingerprints) and can easily be fooled by tricks with hair, clothing, and sunglasses.

You can learn more about facial recognition and how to defeat it here http://www.networkworld.com/article/2892...ition.html , here http://www.survivopedia.com/6-ways-to-de...cognition/ , here http://www.thedailysheeple.com/how-to-be...ber_112012 and finally here https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/3/13507...onate-fool .