DoD’s CIO Says Use of RFID Still Raises Questions
Linton Wells, acting CIO at the Dept. of Defense, said Tues. that while the agency has embraced RFID in tracking supplies across the commands many questions remain about the potential risks, including a potential threat to military security.
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“GPS is a very, very low amplitude signal,” Wells said, citing one problem. “When you get a port with thousands and thousands of actively tagged containers, what does that do to shipping modules that drive around and have to know where they are based on GPS while they're moving among these containers? I don’t know. We don’t know. But we have to find out.”
Wells, speaking at an E-Gov Institute conference, said DoD must look more closely at the threat of electromagnetic radiation to ordinance and fuel. Another question that has arisen, he said, is whether RFID signals can give away the positions of units since they're installed throughout the supply chain. “Stealth of units has been a key part of military operations for a long time,” he noted. “How do you sustain that when everything is tagged some way? Do you really know that you've turned everything off?” Wells said the information assurance architecture for DoD’s global information grid doesn’t take into account all of the additional emissions from RFID tags.
Wells also said DoD must do everything it can to accommodate Bluetooth and other wireless technologies at military installations as DoD conducts its business as it rolls out new wireless guidelines. “We have all these folks who say I know that’s interesting, but no, we cannot use it,” he said. “The answer is that’s like standing on the beach like King Canute and saying the tide will not rise. You can’t not use it.”
Wells said DoD must look at the issue with its “eyes wide open” because of the potential risks. “NSA has gone around and done a lot of fairly startling studies,” he said. “But the functionality [wireless technologies] bring is truly extraordinary.”
DoD must find ways to evaluate the potential gains relative to the risks, Wells said. “I don’t know how to do this,” he said. “It’s an area I certainly solicit views on… It’s a tough area when you're dealing with peoples’ lives.” - Howard Buskirk