ID card industry pushes for DHS work

Executives at identification card companies are intensifying their push for alternative technologies for the Homeland Security Department’s upcoming requirements for border crossing cards and drivers’ licenses. Representatives of the laser card and “smart card” industries told lawmakers on Oct. 18 that their products offer unique benefits and avoid shortcomings of the formats proposed by DHS for the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative border-crossing card and the Real ID Act of 2005 driver’s license standard. For the WHTI border crossing card, also known as the Pass card, DHS officials have said they intend to use long-distance radio frequency identification tags that can be read at 20 feet. A similar RFID tag is to be used in the hybrid WHTI-Real ID act identification card to be issued in three border states.
(Washington Technology story)

Chertoff's steps to discourage attacks

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on Oct. 19 warned the United States faces a "heightened threat of terrorist attack for the foreseeable future" but said his department was doing more than ever to counter it. As one new anti-terrorism initiative, he cited a plan to screen and inspect small boats for bombs. "Are there going to be some squawks? Absolutely," Chertoff said at a conference held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on the potential for improvised explosive device attacks in this country. As evidence of the increased terrorist threat, he pointed to the summer's National Intelligence Estimate finding that al-Qaida had reconstituted its training camps in the rugged tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan after being chased out of Afghanistan by U.S. forces in the fall 2001. He said al-Qaida knew how to "pick itself up" after a defeat, but that the "good news is that we are doing the same thing."
(Government Executive story)

Schneider fill-in DHS deputy secretary

President Bush on Oct. 18 tapped the Homeland Security Department's management chief to act as deputy secretary after Michael Jackson vacates the job next week. Paul Schneider, a former acquisition executive at the National Security Agency, has been Homeland Security's undersecretary for management since January. He will assume the acting position when Jackson departs Oct. 26. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff issued a statement saying he was "enormously pleased" by the selection of Schneider. "Paul has exhibited tremendous leadership and dedication as the undersecretary for management," Chertoff said. "He has the respect and admiration of staff and my full support."
(Government Executive story; DHS press release with Chertoff's statement)

USDA approves two animal ID systems

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on Oct. 11 announced the approval of two new animal identification devices: a visual tag with radio frequency identification (RFID) from Leader Products and the first approved injectable transponder from Digital Angel. The devices carry an official animal identification number (AIN), which is used to identify individual animals as part of USDA’s National Animal Identification System (NAIS). USDA is technology neutral and supports a range of NAIS-compliant identification methods. All NAIS-compliant RFID devices are ISO-compliant and therefore, an ISO-compliant reader would read any of them.
(USDA press release; USDA NAIS homepage)

Chertoff to speak at IdentEvent

Secretary of the DHS Michael Chertoff will give a special keynote speech at IdentEvent 2007 on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, D.C. IdentEvent is a one-day conference to bring together industry executives, policy and security experts, government officials, analysts, the media and more in a highly-focused, higly-effective airing of identity management issues and viewpoints. Event topics include: Credentialing & Access Management; Enhanced Driver's Licenses; Federal Identity Credentialing Strategies; The Future of ID Management; Real ID: Will it Happen?; Congressional Outlook; Overview of Government ID Management Market.
(ITAA Web site with registration information)