DOD rolls out smart cards
The Defense Department this month will begin to replace millions of its identification cards with smart cards.
The Defense Department this month will begin to replace millions of its
identification cards with smart cards.
DOD will issue about 50,000 smart cards in October, and at least 3 million
DOD employees will eventually have a card, said Michael Green, director
of DOD's public-key infrastructure program management office.
One of the main applications for the smart cards will be to serve as
the hardware token to carry digital certificates, which store digital signatures
used during electronic transactions.
DOD employees "need hardware certificates to do contracting," Green
said. "My certificate will have to be on a smart card in order to do contracts."
The first smart cards issued will contain 32K of memory; 13K will be
set aside for the digital certificates, said Green, speaking Sept. 26 at
the E-Gov Information Assurance Conference in Alexandria, Va. Another 7K
will be allotted for applications each military service decides to implement,
such as secure network sign-on and mess hall privileges.Related links - smart cards
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