By Andrea Shalal-Esa    WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (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, [red]civilian employees and some contractors -- within the next 15 months. [/red]

   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, and to computer networks,[red] including access to encrypted e-mail and online transactions. [/red]    

"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. [`EDS], 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.    

[red]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. [/red]    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. ((Andrea Shalal-Esa, tel 202-354-5807, fax 202 898 8383, email [email protected])) Mon Oct 29 19:56:26 2001 -GMT- pnac (nN29188754) = 1 19:56


~ how small is the smallest GPS??? ~

This is actually a lot older news than they make it out to be.  I wrote a smartcard interface to an Air Force immunizations program back in 1998.  They've had this in the works for a while.

Viper Out

My ex-employer had a system similar to this.  Some of those ID badges that many of us wear at work are smart cards.  We were working on an integrated SC reader/video monitoring system that would allow them to track people inside the facilities, but it was for security reasons at our remote POP's.  Still, there are some creepy things you can do with that type of technology.

God Bless Texas

It's for our own good, I've got nothing to hide and neither should anyone else if they're not a criminal.

I guess if you don't like it you can either not join the military or quit you job if it involves these ID cards. I don't think this is really that big of a deal. They are not forcing anyone to do anything except the soldiers and basically, they are property of the US govt anyways.

Where I work we are made to wear identification badges which have our name, picture, employee number and they have a magnetic strip contained inside with all of the same information. I am not forced to wear the badge. If I don't want to wear it I can just not go to work, it's that easy.

Michael

I'm taking over for Imbrog|io since he seems to be absent lately. [:D]

Maybe the stealth helicopters finally got him.

No way, if the Man got to him it'd be all over the news, between his arsenal (10-22 and a .38) and all of the subversive literature the media would have a weeks worth of stories.

Advanced BATF training session no doubt...[IMG]http://www.freakygamers.com/smilies/s/contrib/aahmed/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

I heard he had been "detained" for imigration violations.....

Maybe if they would track down people that are living here on expired student visas, terrorism might go down a smidge.
We have plenty of laws, but they are selectivly enforced.

The much feared "national ID card" is not problem. There can be no legal requirement to identify yourself. This has been long established by the Supreme Court. The only exception is when you have been arrested.

You can put the tin foil hats up for now. Don't you know that overuse can damage their protective properties?