In 2004, President Bush issued a homeland security directive calling for agencies to issue smart card IDs and install software enabling them to be recognized across government.
Currently there is no estimate of how many smart cards will be issued in total, although the Department of Defense has awarded a contract to ActivIdentity for the provision of 3.5 million cards for military members and contractors.
The Social Security Administration is also planning to issue 100,000 smart cards by the end of September 2008, which is the deadline issued by the government directive. The Environmental Protection Agency is issuing the personal identity verification (PIV) cards to a small number of its 18,000 workforce as well.
ActivIdentity’s CEO, Jason Hart, predicts that the use of biometric smart cards in government will trigger use in the private industry. Debit and credit card functions, email user authentication and computer encryption are capabilities likely to be introduced in the next five years, he added.
