The Department of Defense is making improvements to its ID card program in order to meet the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12. HSPD-12 calls for new personal identification verification (PIV) cards to be issued to all military and civilian employees working for the DoD. The enhanced PIV cards will use contactless card technology to provide physical and logical access to facilities as well as computer systems.

In order to enter DoD buildings, cardholders will be able to waive their identity passes by a reader that interprets the data stored on the ID card. The DoD already has about 2,300 contactless card stations in buildings worldwide for its existing Common Access Card program. Those stations are being upgraded for the rollout of the new HSDP-12 cards.
The HSDP-compliant identification cards look much different than the old Common Access Card. The new IDs feature a wavy background to prevent counterfeiting. They are contactless smart cards, and they include sophisticated features that greatly enhance security, both for protecting the card holder, as well as the Department’s facilities and highly sensitive computer systems.