reuters: "U.S. Military Unveils Smart ID Card."

[Xeni Jardin]

Monday October 29 3:01 PM ET
U.S. Military Unveils Smart ID Card
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011029/tc/tech_military_usa_dc_1.html
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. military officials on Monday unveiled a new
generation of ``smart'' identity cards, but were still weighing whether to add
medical data and other information to the chip-based ID cards.

The Defense Department said it expected to issue the chip-based ``common access
cards'' to 4.3 million military personnel -- including active military, selected
reserves, civilian employees and some contractors -- within the next 15 months.

Officials said the cards, which include a photograph, bar code, magnetic strip
and other identifying text, would help tighten security on access at 900 U.S.
military sites worldwide, including the Pentagon (news - web sites), and to
computer networks, including access to encrypted e-mail and online transactions.

``The big benefits are in the area of security,'' said Dr. David Chu,
undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told Reuters. ``You can
know who was in a facility at a given time.''

He said that issue had taken on new importance after the Sept. 11 hijacking
attacks and the discovery of anthrax-laced letters, which has prompted the
government to put thousands of postal workers and others exposed to the
potentially deadly bacteria on antibiotics.

``This technology is an important tool to improving the way the Defense
Department does business,'' he said.

Once the cards are widely distributed, the military could also use them to help
create manifests for troop deployments, greatly speeding a process that can last
hours now, officials said.

Holders could also use the cards to book and file travel plans and expenses,
officials said.

MEDICAL DATA COULD BE ADDED LATER

The military later could add encrypted medical information to the cards, or
simply use them to access secure computer files with that information, Chu said.

But, he said there would be benefits and risks to such a move, and the Pentagon
had not yet approved it.

Mary Dixon, director of the Defense Department's access card office, said
officials were mindful of service members' privacy concerns.

Assistant Secretary of Defense John Stenbit said other countries such as South
Africa already used such cards to control access to voting booths and welfare
benefits.

Officials at the Pentagon and EDS Corp. (NYSE:EDS - news), the main contractor
for the smart cards, said efforts were underway to boost the capacity of the
cards within a year.

Efforts were also underway to add an individual's fingerprint, which could be
ready for implementation within two years, said Ken Scheflen, director of the
Defense Manpower Data Center.

Scheflen said the Pentagon's experience with the new technology could prove
useful in any move to create national identification cards for the United
States, but no such discussions were underway.

While the military had no trouble authenticating its users, it could prove more
difficult to do so if each American was issued a national ID -- potentially over
200 million people, Scheflen said.