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GCN Home > 01/23/06 issue

Rush, but verify

By Jason Miller, GCN Staff

With an impending deadline, and despite a lack of working products, agencies race to get infrastructures ready for interoperable smart cards

Few people in the federal government or industry dare question the importance of Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12.

But what federal and industry experts also say is that the aggressive deadline set by the administration for HSPD-12 compliance will be nearly impossible for most agencies to meet.

Agencies and contractor-run government operations know the risks: They face the full spectrum of threats, from terrorist attacks to disruptions by hackers, and they recognize the importance of better securing federal facilities through more accurate identification of employees.

And there is no doubt, experts say, that HSPD-12 will improve employee efficiency, save money in the long run and promote the use of e-authentication services.

But the Office of Management and Budget has given agencies 10 months to get the back-end infrastructure in place and begin issuing smart cards that adhere to the Federal Information Processing Standard 201, Personal Identity Verification II. Experts say the rush to meet this arbitrary deadline could push departments to spend millions of dollars hurriedly and run the risk of error. They recommend the administration give agencies a little more time to make sure they get it right.

“Agencies are trying to fill in the square, to be compliant without being fully mature and fully deep-down aware of what they are trying to accomplish,” said one government official involved in HSPD-12, who requested anonymity.

Agencies must be ready by Oct. 27 to issue smart ID cards that are interoperable across all agencies, and include a two-finger biometric and digital certificate. Not all employees will have to have cards by the deadline, but agencies must issue the credentials to all new employees and contractors, and to all current ones as their ID cards expire. Over the next two years, all employees must transition to the new smart ID cards, according to OMB guidance issued last July.

Additionally, agencies for the first time are required to integrate physical-access control with logical security. This requires a whole new level of cooperation, understanding and coordination among IT, human resources and physical security personnel, officials said.

More news on related topics: Authentication / Identity Management, Homeland Security, Identity Management, IT Management



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