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The Office of National Capital Region Coordination is coordinating a major initiative to develop a smart identity card system for emergency responders. These smart cards would allow first responders from across the region the ability to quickly and easily access government buildings and reservations in the event of a terrorist attack or other disaster. The initiative is designed to remedy access problems such as those encountered by state and local emergency officials responding to the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.
In February 2006, NCR coordinated a multi-agency demonstration to test the interoperability and usability of this credentialing trust model through simulated emergency incidents at federal, state, and local facilities, including the Pentagon, a Virginia state facility, a port controlled by the State of Maryland, and a checkpoint in a Maryland county.
The “Winter Fox Interoperability Demonstration” (WFID) was conducted by the Department of Homeland Security Office of National Capital Region Coordination and hosted by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the State of Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
For the demonstration, approximately 500 First Responder Authentication Cards (FRACs) were issued to senior federal, state, and county public safety officials. The Federal Information Processing Standard 201 (FIPS 201) compliant smart identity cards enabled users to electronically validate their identities in order for relying parties to make informed decisions for granting or denying access. Standardized electronic identity verification was required for various levels of perimeter security at all demonstration sites regardless of agency affiliation.
WFID also validated the capability to use the FIPS 201 architecture to electronically validate National Incident Management System or National Infrastructure Protection Plan personnel qualification information for incident management of human resource assets. For example, incident commanders requiring a certain emergency support function or sector qualification could readily determine if anyone at the scene met the requirement.
In addition, use of the FRACs assisted incident commanders in preparing After Action Reports and assessments by enabling them to electronically reconstruct time and attendance of each individual within the incident area upon entry and departure. These reports were electronically transmitted real-time via satellite communications to national, state, and local emergency operations centers to include Northern Command Headquarters (NORTHCOM) in Colorado, Pentagon Emergency Operations Center, NORTHCOM NCR Joint Operations Center, and Maryland Emergency Management Agency.
Use of the FRAC will become a performance measure in future NCR exercises, with the goal of full implementation and integration by emergency officials throughout the National Capital Region to identify responding to incidents at federal, state, local, and private sector facilities.
This page was last reviewed/modified on May 28, 2008.