Implementing Smart Cards into the Air Force Reserve

Smart card technology is essentially about a credit card with a brain. Smart cards have an embedded microchip that allows the card to hold digital data up to the available memory installed on the card. Smart cards first became popular in the financial industry in Europe, however, they have quickly gained favor in the United States. The Department of Defense (DoD) also saw the utility in using smart card technology. The DoD began tests with smart cards that sought to take advantage of the many capabilities present in this technology. Not merely content to use the card as just an identification (ID) card, the military wanted to exploit the smart card's ability to store large amounts of encrypted data. In particular, DoD is intending to use smart cards to replace current ID cards for all active and Reserve members, plus use them to allow access to computer networks, maintain personnel and medical records; and with such capabilities, attempt to ease the burden to the military member during deployment processing.