DHS CIO Steve Cooper to Deliver Keynote at Smart Card Alliance Smart Cards in Government Conference

Mr. Cooper will speak about government-wide federal identification credential initiatives. He’ll address topics such as: key decision points made along the way; the significance of the new Federal Identity Credentialing Committee (FICC) policy guidelines; how government initiatives are shaping the future roadmap for identity credentials; and how to enhance public-private partnerships to ensure programs are successful. Mr. Cooper was appointed by President Bush to be the first CIO of the DHS in February 2003. He and his team have responsibility for the information technology assets supporting 190,000 federal employees of the 22 agencies now comprising the new department. His address is one of many highlights during two full days of conference sessions on government credentialing, security and e-authentication projects. Immediately preceding Mr. Cooper’s address the Federal Smart Card Project Managers Group will hold their bi-monthly meeting. Exhibiting organizations at the event include: Axalto, Gemplus, Datacard Group, SCM Microsystems, Maximus, IBM, OTI America, General Services Administration, First Data Corporation, VeriSign, Atmel, Datakey, ActivCard, SAFLINK, SuperCom and Thomson Media. The Alliance is also hosting the Electronic Authentication Partnership (EAP) meeting on Tuesday, March 9th. The EAP is being formed to enable the interoperability of public and private online authentication systems. It is comprised of stakeholder groups, including federal agencies, state governments, private-sector companies and organizations, and public interest groups. Karen Evans, administrator of the Office of Electronic Government and IT in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget announced the EAP on December 9, 2003. It conducted is first organizational meeting on February 12, 2004, in Washington, DC.