by Ron Hall, Office of Communications

Reflective of the minor annoyances of life in the 21st century, we shudder at the daily traffic gridlock, we try to block out intrusive cellphone conversations, and we roll our eyes with dissatisfaction when we look at our passport photo, our driver's license photo--and maybe also the photo on our USDA identification card.

Well, if you don't like the pic on the official USDA ID you currently use, you're in luck. The whole USDA ID card itself is about to go through a major transformation, and putting a new picture of the employee on the new ID card is just one part of that change.

By October 27, 2008 virtually all USDA employees, located at headquarters and field locations across the country and around the world, are to be issued new USDA employee ID cards, called the "LincPass."

Here's why that's happening, and here's what those new cards are to feature.

"The short answer as to why it's happening? HSPD-12 mandated it," noted Owen Unangst, the Identity and Access Management Project Manager with the Office of the Chief Information Officer in Ft. Collins, Colo. He was referring to "Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12," which is dated Aug. 27, 2004 and which lays out a policy for a "Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors." "The long answer is that in this post-9/11 era, we need newer, better, standardized, more comprehensive, and more secure employee ID cards, which offer more features and more capabilities, to further protect the security of our federal employees, our federal facilities, and our federal computers, no matter where they are situated."

The USDA version of this governmentwide "smart card," with its variety of new features, is called "LincPass" in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, who founded the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862. A slightly different use of the word was included in an e-mail message, sent from Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration Gilbert Smith, which was dated June 20, 2007 and titled "LincPass: the New Federal Identification Card Pilot Program Is Coming to USDA." In that e-mail message, sent to USDA employees in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Smith noted that "Your identity will be 'linked' to the card..."

Rick Holman, Chief of the Physical Security Division in the Office of Security Services, explained that all USDA LincPasses--for all USDA employees, irrespective of office locations at headquarters or field sites--will share the same features: they will be 2" x 3.5", will be multicolored, will include the USDA employee's name, plus his/her identification as an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will include identifying data including height, color of hair, and color of eyes, will include the card's expiration date, and will include the official USDA logo. In addition, a contact computer chip will be imbedded in the card that will hold the following items of data to verify the cardholder's identity: a fingerprint 'algorithm;' a digital head shot of the cardholder; the cardholder's unique ID--which is not the cardholder's Social Security number; and information--called "PKI Certificates"--which provides authentication, encryption, and a digital signature, all of which are unique to that employee.

"USDA employees," Unangst explained, "will insert their LincPass to automatically access their office computer, and scan their LincPass to automatically access their USDA facility." He noted that USDA employees who use government laptops will be required to begin using that LincPass by March 2008 to access their laptops. USDA's plan is to complete implementation of LincPass access to USDA office laptops by September 2008. All other USDA employees will be required to use their LincPass, to access their office desktop computers, by October 2009. Finally, by October 2011 all USDA employees will be required to use the "scan" feature of their LincPass in order to enter applicable USDA facilities.

Unangst said that each LincPass will initially cost about $82. Individual program agencies and staff offices are paying that cost for their respective employees.

Susan Gulbranson, Chief of the Personnel and Document Security Division in OSS, added that program agencies and staff offices are to also pay the cost for the background investigation--if there is not a 'BI' already on the employee's record--which each LincPass holder must complete before issuance of that card. She pointed out that if an employee's agency can produce--or otherwise verify the existence of--an official document reflecting that he/she has already completed a BI, that employee does not have to complete a new BI. "About 70 percent of USDA employees are in that situation," she affirmed, "so they won't have to complete another BI." She advised, however, that employees who have completed a BI more than 15 years ago may not be able to verify that, since the Office of Personnel Management is no longer keeping records such as this that are older than 15 years.

"Those background investigations," Unangst said, "generally take the form of a National Agency Check With Inquiries--or NACI--and it costs about $100 each."

Gulbranson explained that, to initiate the required background investigation, an employee's servicing personnel office or servicing security office will contact him/her about filling out the proper form, depending on the degree of sensitivity of that employee's position. The forms in question are the Standard Form 85 ("Questionnaire for Non-Sensitive Positions"), the SF 85P ("Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions"), and the SF 86 ("Questionnaire for National Security Positions").

She added that, following satisfactory completion of the background investigation process, employees will be directed to an "Enrollment Station." There they are to provide two forms of identification--including at least one government-issued photo ID such as a passport or a state driver's license--which will be scanned into the HSPD-12 system. The employee will then have a digital photo taken and will be fingerprinted. "To protect the privacy of a person's fingerprints," explained Unangst, "the fingerprint data is converted via a 'hash' function--sort of like a mathematical algorithm--into a long string of random-looking letters and numbers."

Holman said that employees at USDA field locations will be directed to "established Enrollment Stations" which will be available around the country providing those particular services.

"Initial turnaround time is expected to be about two weeks to receive your LincPass," affirmed Holman. As currently set up, the employee will then return to the "Enrollment Station" to pick up his/her LincPass and then activate it.

Holman said that 600 USDA employees, from 6 program agencies and staff offices at USDA headquarters in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, participated in a pilot program to obtain their LincPass card. "The pilot began in July, and we anticipate that all 600 pilot participants will have received their LincPass cards by late fall," he noted.

Since July USDA has been offering briefings to employees at headquarters and field locations on the LincPass card. Holman said that employees can get more information by clicking on http://lincpass.usda.gov.

"My fellow USDA employees will want to know that this LincPass card will open up whole new vistas of security," Holman underscored. "But, by the same token, we employees will need to mega-protect this card just like we would our own personal credit cards. So be alert, be careful, and be on guard at all times with your LincPass."