Pentagon shows off new smart ID cards

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The nation’s increasingly high-tech soldiers are getting another computer in their arsenal, this one wallet-sized.

The Pentagon began arming four million troops and civilians on Monday with "smart" ID cards that will allow them to open secure doors, get cash, buy food — and soon check out weapons and other military hardware.

The cards, about the size of a credit card, will replace the standard green ID cards now used by Defense employees.

They include a bar code, circuit chip and magnetic stripe to store personal information about its holder. With it, soldiers can access secure Defense Web sites, log into their computers and digitally encrypt and sign their e-mail.

"It is their passport to the electronic world," Defense personnel chief David S.C. Chu said after receiving his card.

Through the Internet at more than 900 issuance sites worldwide, a soldier gets his digital picture taken and his fingerprint stored and picks a personal identification number. In about 10 to 15 minutes, he gets his card.

John Stenbit, the Pentagon’s chief information officer, said the card will help solve the "hurry up and wait" syndrome in the military, where paperwork can bog down processes.

At a computer terminal, soldiers will swipe the card and type in their numerical password. The password provides an extra level of security.

Within months, a soldier will be able to swipe his card to check out a weapon or ammunition, and the card can store his sharpshooting score.

If a card is lost, officials said its digital signatures will be deactivated once it is reported, and the employee will get a new card. The government has had a tough time tracking credit cards, The Associated Press reported in August, with at least 15 agencies reporting that they have more issued cards than employees. The smart cards cost the government about $8 each.

The cards also offer an added security benefit, he said, in an attack similar to the Pentagon crash.

"It’s not just ‘Gee, that’s really neat,’ " Stenbit said, "but if you have an incident, you can tell who’s gotten out of the building and who’s still stuck in there."