White House Order Expected To Drive U.S. Government Smart Cards

[Nambe]

The Thomson Corporation and CardTechnology

U.S. President George Bush last week issued a directive requiring all U.S. government agencies to move quickly to issue employees and contractors “secure and reliable forms of identification,” an order expected to hasten the adoption of smart cards as employee ID badges. The directive orders the adoption of a standard for identity documents within 6 months and implementation by all agencies within 14 months. While the order does not mention any technologies by name, smart cards “are clearly implied,” because that is the technology that has been embraced already by many U.S. agencies, says Neville Pattinson, director of business development, technology and government affairs for the North America unit of France-based smart card vendor Axalto. The Department of Defense has issued more than 5 million smart card IDs, and smaller projects are underway at Interior, Treasury, States, Veterans Affairs, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other agencies. ..

Bush’s predecessor, Bill Clinton, gave smart cards a similar boost when his budget for fiscal year 1998 called for adoption of “smart card technology so that, ultimately, every federal employee will be able to use one card for a wide range of purposes, including travel, small purchases and building access.”
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[slothrop]

1. smart cards

Who makes them and how much did they donate to the RNC?