New ID cards are secure, ready

  • Published
The high-tech identification common access card currently replacing the familiar green ID card worldwide is secure and proven in combat, despite some rumors to the contrary.

"Worries are unfounded" that the new ID cards are easily accessible to identity thieves or even hostile forces, said Chief Master Sgt. Ricky Arnold, survival, evasion, resistance and escape program manager at the Pentagon.

"These cards are not a risk to anyone's privacy or security," said the chief.

"We thoroughly researched the security risks before we even began to issue common access cards," said Maj. Gen. Richard Mentemeyer, director of operations and training at the Air Staff.

"We were satisfied then, and recent events have reinforced our belief that common access cards are not only secure and safe but also provide required Geneva Conventions information in the event an airman is captured," the general said.

"In a war zone or at home station, there should be no hesitation: Don't leave home without it," he said.

The card does not contain any personal information electronically that is not already printed on the card, officials said. What it does is allow for electronic access to computer systems that contain personal data. Also, an extra layer of protection is provided when a card is reported lost or the cardholder goes into missing or captured status. At that point, computer and data system access is turned off, officials said.

And built-in electronic security measures make getting access to the information on the chip extremely difficult, if not impossible, officials said.

"To date, there has not been a single successful attempt to extract information from one of these cards," Arnold said.

Arnold said airmen isolated in hostile areas do not have to worry because officials tested and validated the process for turning off computer access during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Common access cards should be issued across the Department of Defense by October to all eligible Air Force active-duty people, guardsmen, reservists, civilians and some contractors, officials said.

Rumors that some deployed airmen destroyed or lost their common access cards in an effort to get an old-fashioned green ID card reissued to them spurred officials to conduct an informal study into the matter, Arnold said.

"The results showed no evidence of that sort of activity which would be illegal, since the cards are government property," the chief said.

"The statistics don't show any cases where people are intentionally maneuvering to get old-style cards. And we checked specifically for indications of that. It just seems to be a completely unfounded rumor," he said.

Even in hostile areas, the new cards do not put peoples' privacy and security at risk, officials said.

Each card bears a color photo and service seal of the holder, required visible personal data, a magnetic strip, linear and two-dimensional barcodes, and a 32-kilobyte computer chip.

"The amount of information on the new ID cards is less than people normally voluntarily give to salespeople or over the Internet to buy things with their credit cards," said Mentemeyer.

Even if someone had the extensive knowledge and expensive equipment needed to get information off the chip, an attempt would take longer than eight hours per card, and cause the card to be deactivated and/or destroyed in the process, he said.

More information can be found at http://www.dmdc.osd.mil/smartcard. (Courtesy of Air Force Personnel Center News Service)