The events of September 11th, 2001 created a necessity for improved security everywhere. In the USA this led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the establishment of several Task Forces across government with the mission to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States and to minimize the vulnerability of government and private infrastructure to exploitation and acts of terror. The Presidential directive, HSPD-12, specifies the required security enhancements.
In response to the directive, great emphasis is being placed on enhancing the security of the driver's licenses issued by the 50 states and the identification cards and documents used throughout government departments and agencies, including contractors. Making these documents easy to authenticate, yet tamper-proof or tamper-evident, and extremely difficult to counterfeit, is a critical link in the chain of homeland security. This is true, for example, where the simple possession of a driver's license entitles the bearer legitimate access to a wide range of government and commercial services.
The government has called upon the private sector to bring forward the best available technology to counter the wide range of threats that well-organized and sophisticated terrorists can bring to bear. Prominent among these technologies is the KINEGRAM®, an Optically Variable Device (OVD). This unique and highly secure technology is gaining recognition as a key security feature for the protection of identification documents and banknotes. |
