Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), dated Aug. 27, 2004, entitled “Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors” directs the promulgation of a federal standard for secure and reliable forms of identification for federal employees. In accordance with HSPD-12, the Federal Information Processing Standards 201-1 (FIPS 201-1), “Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors,” U.S. Dept. of Commerce, May 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference, specifies the architecture and technical requirements for a common identification standard for federal employees and contractors in connection with the personal identity verification of individuals seeking physical access to federally controlled government facilities and electronic access to government information systems. (See also: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-116, MacGregor et al., “A Recommendation for the Use of PIV Credentials in Physical Access Control Systems (PACS),” U.S. Dept. of Commerce, November 2008, and “Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Reader Hardware And Card Application Specification,” Transportation Security Administration, Dept. of Homeland Security, May 30, 2008, which are both incorporated herein by reference.) Providing identity verification functionality that complies with federal requirements is important for ensuring security assurance in connection with controlling access according to required security levels, procedures and site requirements.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system for identity verification that may be efficiently and flexibly implemented in access control systems in accordance with security requirements.