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GCN Home > 09/15/05 web stories

Former White House adviser urges high standards for ID cards

By Roseanne Gerin, Contributing Staff Writer

President Bush’s former counterterrorism chief yesterday called for the government to establish a system of open-source and transparent standards for a federated identity card system, noting that Americans continue to face the dual threats of identity theft and terrorist attack.

“You should want the highest form of technology and security for your privacy information, and frankly, we don’t have that today,” Richard Clarke said. A federated identity card would not necessarily be a national ID card, but privately issued identification cards, he said. Clarke spoke about managing smart cards and biometric identifiers at a Sept. 13 conference in Washington, hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Federated identity” refers to an individual’s authentication across multiple information technology systems or organizations. A federated identity card system would allow individuals to use the same user names, passwords or other personal identification to access the networks of more than one enterprise to conduct transactions.

Companies and government agencies that participate in such a system depend on each other to authenticate their respective users and permit them access to their services. They can share applications without having to adopt the same technologies for directory services, security and authentication.

The federated identity cards might be driver’s licenses or another form of identification that would allow government agencies and private-sector entities to choose which one they want to affiliate with, Clarke said.

Congress passed the Real ID Act in May, which will require states as of May 2008 to issue federally approved driver’s licenses or identification cards to those who live and work in the United States. The ID cards will be required for citizens to drive, enter federal government buildings, collect Social Security, access a federal government service or use the services of private entities such as banks and airlines, which are required by federal law to verify customer identity.

Clarke said the country does not need “Potemkin IDs,” but rather “real IDs that are verifiable and use the best security techniques and the best technology.”

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



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