The National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
recently issued the final specifications for
standardized Personal Identity Verification cards
required for all federal employees and civilian
contractors by Oct. 27 of this year. The cards,
which use biometric identifiers, are under
development in response to Homeland Security
Presidential Directive 12, an order issued by
President Bush in 2004 that requires standard
government IDs.
”The standards are in place. Several vendors
have developed cards which are now being tested
for compliance with those guidelines,” says Curt
Baker, manager of the PIV program at NIST.
According to Baker, the production timetable is in
the hands of the General Services Administration
(GSA).
David Corcoran, spokesman for the Identity
Alliance, a private Indiana-based security firm,
says the new smart PIV cards are a personal
information vault that incorporates holograms, bar
codes, microprinting and encryption. Included are
the user’s signature and demographic information.
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