DHS gets HSPD-12 extension
Department officials say they are committed to making smart card ID program operational
By Jason Miller
Published on November 12, 2007
| HSPD-12 off to a slow start |
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The General Services Administration’s Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 Managed Services Office has issued only 32 cards and has 17 of 67 agencies qualified to begin enrolling employees. But Mike Butler, the MSO’s program manager, said he isn’t worried yet.
About 85 percent of the MSO’s anticipated 850,000 customers are located in those 17 agencies, which include some of the largest departments such as GSA, Agriculture, Commerce and Energy.
“We will try to get all 67 customers ready to issue cards by Jan. 1,” Butler said at a recent Interagency Smart Card Advisory Board meeting in Washington. “We will spend our time with our biggest customers because they will be the ones who will bring the cards to market. The first five customers will begin the chain of trust.”
Butler added that the MSO plans to open 50 enrollment centers by Jan. 1, depending on how soon agencies can make their data available for enrollment and card issuance. There are seven stations open now, all of them in Washington.
— Jason Miller
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The Office of Management and Budget repeatedly has said it would not extend the Oct. 27, 2008, deadline for agencies to implement Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. But four departments have convinced OMB to make exceptions.
OMB has granted extensions to the Defense, Homeland Security, State and Veterans Affairs departments. Some experts say that DOD, State and possibly VA have a legitimate need for the delay but that DHS’ extension casts doubt on the Bush administration’s dedication to the HSPD-12 mandate. OMB’s decision also sends a message to other agencies that are struggling to comply with HSPD-12.
“Why give the people who need this the most an extension?” asked a federal official who is involved in an HSPD-12 implementation. “It doesn’t make sense.”
DOD, for instance, has issued more than 3 million cards under its old smart card standard, and it wouldn’t be cost-effective to issue new cards or fix all of them at once. State’s extension is only for its overseas facilities, sources say.
“No agencies have received ‘extensions,’” said Karen Evans, OMB’s administrator for IT and e-government. “All agencies have mutually agreed-upon plans in place, including DHS. Implementation plans were reviewed and took into consideration key milestones as well as the factors involved in integrating their physical and logical access using the HSPD-12 credential.”
OMB’s deputy general counsel confirmed to the DHS inspector general that OMB had granted the department an extension to implement HSPD-12. DHS must begin issuing HSPD-12-compliant cards next month, complete issuing 80 percent of the cards by December 2008 and issue the remaining 20 percent by December 2010.
Even with the extension, DHS might not meet its 2010 deadline, according to a recent IG report. Although the department has taken steps to meet the mandate for issuing personal identity verification cards, DHS must better manage its HSPD-12 program, the IG said. The department has failed to give its components sufficient guidance on how to implement the directive, according to the audit.
“OMB asked for a realistic time frame to meet the deadline, and we submitted a plan and they approved it,” said Cynthia Sjoberg, DHS’ HSPD-12 program manager, adding that DHS wanted an operational system. “We just didn’t want to issue cards.”
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