Janice is the former border counsel to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States(9/11 Commission) responsible for conducting much of the investigation and founding the terms border security is national security, biometric borders, terrorist travel, and the phrase we must assure that people are who they say they are explained in her and her teammates’ monograph, 9/11 and Terrorist Travel. Subsequently, Janice was invited to testify before the UN Security Council and the US Congress 19 times on issues including identity, biometrics, visa and border policies, REAL ID. Prior to the 9/11 Commission, she spearheaded the drafting and passage of two federal laws unanimously passed and signed into law, one digitizing identity theft and the other that enabled information-sharing on millennial cyber solutions while Senate Judiciary Committee counsel to Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In 2013, after testifying on the national security ramifications of the Gang of 13 immigration bill, she accepted a position from Sen. Sessions (R-AL) as a Senate Judiciary Senior Counsel. 

 

She has drafted over 3 dozen reports and memorandums of immigration related national security matters, and a series of documentaries about incursions over the southern border as a senior national security policy analyst at a DC think tank. Janice won the 2015 Women in Biometrics Award, one of five women from over 50 nominated; has appeared on all major broadcasting networks multiple times as an identity and national security subject matter expert; been keynote at numerous conferences; and has lectured at Princeton, Villanova and George Mason University. In 2017, Janice founded Identity Strategy Partners, a federal consulting firm supporting security-based identity-based solutioning. Consultations included DHS Secretary Chertoff and Assistant Secretary Stewart Baker where she helped implement the REAL ID Act. 

 

For the past five years, Janice has directed the Biometrics Interagency Working Group out of DHS OBIM Futures/CIO supporting 40 biometric and related programs across the executive branch. In 2024, Kephart delivered the initial report on behalf of DHS and DOJ to the White House Office of Science and Technology on EO 14074 13(e)) assessing the use of biometrics by federal law enforcement and determining best practices for federal, state and local law enforcement. That report, The Biometric Technology Report, is now published on the DHS website at: https://www.dhs.gov/publication/biometric-technology-report.

 

In spring 2025, she launched an identity-first federal compliance immigration SaaS tool that automates and establishes identity for new hire onboarding focused on the federally required Form I-9, found at ZipIDapp.com. Janice holds a B.A. from Duke University, where she was picked as one of the top 10 most influential graduates of her decade, and a J.D. from Villanova Law School.