Identity Management

Who packed a program with all of these speakers six months ago?

-- Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security
-- A former Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
-- The Editor-in-Chief of Government Technology News
-- A Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Management and Budget
-- The Identity Protection and Management Program Director, Washington Headquarters Services, Office of Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense
-- The CIO of Homeland Security
-- An Assistant Director in the Federal Trade Commission+óGé¼Gäós Division of Planning and Information
-- A former senior computer security analyst for the U.S. State Department
-- A Republican Congressman and former Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee
-- The Administrator of E-Government and Information Technology, Office of Management and Budget
-- The developer of the Identity Management architecture for DHS+óGé¼Gäós HSPD-12 solution
-- A former Senior Advisor to Tom Ridge in the Office of Homeland Security, also a 15 year veteran of the Secret Service
-- VP, Federal Security Solutions, Unisys Corporation, formerly Chief of Computer Crime
Investigations who also established the National Infrastructure Protection Center (now part of DHS).
-- The FBI's Unit Chief, Counterterrorism Division, Terrorist Financing Operations Section, Proactive Data Exploitation Unit
-- Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security
-- Director, Identity Authentication Office, Defense Manpower Data Center
-- A Professional Staff Member, House Government Reform Committee formerly an employee of the Congressman above
-- Director, US-Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, Department of Homeland Security
NSA, DOD, DHS, OMB - acronyms galore.  I decided to do a bit of reading after seeing oznick's diary at dailykos, entitled "AT&T routing Phone Calls and Internet to the NSA since 2003." 

oznick refers to an article in wired.com , with the intro "AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers' phone calls, and shunted its customers' internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the company."

This is tedious but serious stuff, and I urge you to read the article.  Another company is mentioned in conjunction with this eavesdropping:  Narus.  Since the campaign contributions made to Republicans by Harris Miller's friends and their companies were fresh on my mind, AT&T being one of them, I decided to take another look and found this conference schedule:

2005 Identity Management Conference and Technology Showcase

This conference was put together by Harris Miller. Here's his bio in the schedule.

Harris Miller, President, Information Technology Association of America

"Harris Miller is president of the Information Technology Association of America. Since joining the organization in 1995, Harris has built ITAA into the +óGé¼+ôgo-to+óGé¼-¥ trade association for issues ranging from workforce and globalization to information security, business immigration, government procurement and more. Among his many accomplishments, Harris serves as president of the World Technology and Services Alliance, created the first International Conference on Global IT Public Policy, held in Buenos Aires, and conceived the Global Information Security Summit to bring together industry and government from around the world to discuss information sharing in the global security arena. This year, Harris represented ITAA at the Transatlantic High-Tech Business Initiative meeting in London, where many IT policy issues of major concern to both the US and EU formed the agenda. Prior to joining ITAA, Harris managed his own very successful government affairs practice and, earlier, worked as Legislative Director to former U.S. Sen. John A. Durkin (D-NH); Deputy Director, Congressional Relations, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; and Legislative Assistant, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and International Law, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives."

Aha!  Dem creds!  I wonder why this isn't publicized more broadly?  Miller is certainly proud of his connections in the federal government.  That's his job and how he manages to forge these alliances.  An ability to play nicely with others can be an asset. There's nothing wrong with working on "Creating a Trusted Identity" which was the theme of the conference.  And there is nothing wrong with building "go-to" associations.  The problem is that these folks are quite focused on the profits to be made from security issues and mandates to the point that privacy issues are an annoyance.  We know that from reading the newspaper. 

Here is a bit from a ITAA major company, EDS:

Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD-12) is Coming +óGé¼-ª and EDS is Ready to Help

"By 27 October 2006, U.S. federal government agencies must begin issuing secure identification credentials with a two-finger biometric and digital certificate to more than 1.8 million employees and contractors.

"This massive undertaking is a result of the Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), a mandate from President George W. Bush, to establish a common identification standard for all federal government employees and contractors. "

Big money in those conference alliances.  I'm worried though.  All of these doings, and one leaky lipped president can undermine it all.

Miller is fond of taking James Webb's sentences out of context and using them for political purposes.  I don't need to do that.  This is a simple conference schedule blurb, and I will include the entire introduction as penned by Miller.  Let's try to gauge his priorities, since he really doesn't tell us much about them himself when asked directly.

About a month after hurricane Katrina, Harris Miller was writing this.

Dear Colleague:

"Thousands of identification papers and records lost to Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Visas and passports forged and altered to allow terrorists free movement between countries.
Data breaches a too common occurrence and identity theft a growing concern. And we won+óGé¼Gäót even mention the unbelievable lines at airports, whether you are trying to board a plane or get back into the country after traveling abroad.

"No issue is more important or timely today than identity management."

Miller's words, my bold.  I wasn't thinking about lost papers right after Katrina and Rita.  Were you?  I was thinking about lost people.  And I wasn't thinking about the long lines at airports either.  I was thinking about a line of people on a bridge being held back at gunpoint.  And now when I think about data breaches and identity theft as it applies to me, those breaches are probably being perpetrated by the very government officials with whom Harris Miller is so chummy.  I was thinking about those things because I am a Democrat - or vice versa.

I said I wouldn't remove context.  Here's the rest of go-to-guy Miller's intro.  I don't have the stomach to comment anymore on it.  Except for one thing.  If you ask me, George Bush did a pretty good job of "creating a trusted identity."  Look how that turned out.
------

Welcome to Creating a Trusted Identity: The 2005 Identity
Management Conference and Technology Showcase. Produced
by the Information Technology Association of America in
conjunction with Input and Government Computer News,
Creating a Trusted Identity will provide meaningful, actionable
information on a range of important identity management topics.
This is the Washington area+óGé¼Gäós single best identity management
event of the year. That+óGé¼Gäós because we have packed the program
with outstanding speakers and cutting edge technology
demonstrations.

Don+óGé¼Gäót expect this conference to supply all the answers, however.
Although the Federal government may eventually adopt an ID
standard, every agency holds different assets and runs different
risks. Identity management solutions must be fl exible and
adaptable to meet current and changing business needs. Only
through attending tightly focused identity management events,
talking to peers, listening to experts, and +óGé¼+ôkicking the tires+óGé¼-¥ on a
few technology demos can organizations cut through the clutter
and start fielding appropriate protections for people, property
and programs.

So let+óGé¼Gäós get busy. Listen, network, visit our tabletop exhibitors,
give us your feedback, get active in ITAA+óGé¼Gäós industry leading
Identity Management Committee. Our goal is to make Creating
a Trusted Identity the go-to identity management conference
and show for the government sector. With companies such
as Maximus, Lockheed Martin and Novell helping us bring this
program to you, we are off to a great start.
Working together, we can raise the nation+óGé¼Gäós security profi le
by building trust and lowering the boom on those involved in
identity fraud, impersonation and related crimes.

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