RFID Tracking the DIA Folks

Before employees who labor away in the Darth Vader building at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington get too excited, the Defense Intelligence Agency is looking to use Radio Frequency Identification chips to track its personnel -- in emergency situations ONLY, not every minute of their lives.

DIA wants a system that can automatically track all the people who enter its buildings - such as the Darth Vader HQ -- and if those buildings are evacuated in an emergency, it wants to track those who have left.

One good approach could be to combine the people-tracking function with the chip-based key fobs used to provide employee access to many buildings in the Washington area -- combing two functions in one gizmo -- and a related database.

Or, DIA could (though I doubt it would) emulate Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School, who had an RFID chip embedded in his arm in 2005.

DIA would like to hear from small businesses who believe they can do the work by June 5.