Green ID Cards Going Out of Style, Common Access Cards are In - Brief Article

All Hands, Sept, 2001 by Victoria L. Falcon

The CAC is now the mandated standard identification card for all military, civilian, eligible foreign national and many contracted personnel. It features "smart card" technology -- a computer chip that enables specific formation about the cardholders and establishes positive digital electronic identification through the use of public key infrastructure (PKI), bar codes and a magnetic stripe.

Green is definitely passe. The green miltary identification card, that is, now that the common access card (CAC) is en vogue.

In fact, the CAC is not only replacing military ID cards, but also those of the DOD civilian work force and many contract personnel.

Nearly half of the 16,000 employees and military personnel stationed at Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Patuxent River, Md., are already sporting the card. NAVAIR was chosen as the first command to receive the common access card for two reasons: the proximity to Navy leadership in Washington, D.C., and the implementation of the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) there.

"We really tried to perfect the CAC-issuing process here," said Darryl Allen, an information assurance specialist with NAVAIR and NAVAIR's CAC Implementation Team lead. "We've run thousands of people through the stem since March to help DOD find problems the process and with the software."

With the test phase nearing completion, CAC teams are forming at DOD sites coast-to-coast. The first Navy site on the West Coast to issue the new smart card was Navy Air Station LeMoore, Calif., where the card has been issued since early April.

"At this point the card is only being used for access to military bases," Allen said. "Right now CAC is just an identification card for the workforce, but eventually that will change."

Exactly what will change depends on how individual stations choose to use the card, but according to Allen, the big push for CAC is to support the security features of NMCI.

"CAC will be the access token Used for NMCI network logon," Allen explained, "and it will serve as the PKI token for digitally signing and encrypting e-mail."

"Once initial issuance has been accomplished, the technology will be exploited by DON with the potential to greatly improve business processes, information assurance, mission effectiveness, and Quality of life," Allen said. "The CAC may eventually contain department-wide and/or component-specific applications such as manifesting, deployment readiness, food service and medical/dental."

NAVAIR is piloting CAC for DON, but some smart card applications are already in use at other Navy sites, including: SmartImmune and Smart Dental (at Naval Training Commands); warrior readiness and weapons issuance (on bases in Oahu, Hawaii); food service (at Naval Training Commands); and quarterdeck control and property accountability (on selected ships).

"By the end of FY02, every military member, Reservist, civilian employee and onsite contractor in the Navy will have a smart card that they will be able to use in their daily lives," predicts Rob Carey, director of the Navy Smart Card office. "Smart cards truly will be your passport to the e-world."