Member Profile: SAIC

This month, Smart Card Talk spoke with Michael Miley, assistant vice president and acting chief technology officer for SAIC's Mission Integration Business Unit. Miley is responsible for R&D initiatives as well as strategic oversight of biometric, smart card, and identity management programs. He established and helps maintain SAIC's Biometric Research Center. He has extensively researched next-generation, contactless smart-card applications using public-key cryptography and biometrics for both physical and cyber access systems

In 2000, Miley worked for a DoD smart card program office, where he managed an innovative physical access control pilot using a common access card. In 2002, he provided subject-matter expertise in support of an ePassport program and co-authored several studies on chip security. In 2004, he was named SAIC's program manager for a large-scale facial-recognition system.

1. What are SAIC's main business profile and offerings?
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) , a leading systems, solutions and technical services company, offers a broad range of expertise in defense modernization efforts, intelligence, homeland security, logistics and product support, health and life sciences, space and earth sciences, and global commercial services.

We are a leading provider of scientific, engineering, systems integration and technical services and solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other U.S. government civil agencies, as well as to customers in selected commercial markets. Our customers seek our domain expertise to solve complex technical challenges requiring innovative solutions for mission-critical functions in such areas as national security, intelligence and homeland defense. Increasing demand for our services and solutions is driven by priorities, including the ongoing global war on terror and the transformation of the U.S. military.

We offer a wide array of technical services and solutions related to smart card technology, including testing, certification and accreditation (C&A), solution design and development, systems integration, and consulting services.  

2. What role does smart card technology play in supporting SAIC' s business?  
Smart card technology plays an important role in many aspects of SAIC business.   As a leading provider of information assurance and identify management services to the U.S. government, we understand smart card technology's central role in protecting many of our customers' mission-critical infrastructures and applications.    In the broader context of larger-scale identity management projects, we see smart card technology as an enabling tool for improving security and eliminating stovepipes within enterprises.   

3. What trends do you see developing in the market that SAIC hopes to capitalize on?  
It has been exciting to see how the market has matured over the past several years.   The spread of smart card technology in the machine-readable travel document (MRTD) industry and the incorporation of biometrics within these documents present great opportunities for those companies positioned to provide products or services in these areas.   Considering the large percentage of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) signatory countries planning or deploying ePassports to their citizens -- the number of chips involved becomes staggering.  

SAIC is well positioned to capitalize on these trends. For example, SAIC's Common Criteria and Cryptographic Module Testing laboratories are a single source for testing and certification.   We know the Common Criteria and the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), and we know how they fit together.   These labs provide a complete range of smart card-related testing and support services, including FIPS 140-2 cryptographic module testing for security levels 1 - 4 as well as algorithm validation testing.   SAIC's Cryptographic Module Testing Laboratory (CMTL also provides the full range of FIPS 201 testing and support services in support for PIV Middleware and Card Application test suites as specified in NIST SP 800-85, PIV Middleware and PIV Card Application Conformance Test Guidelines (SP800-73 compliance).  

We also have a proven track record assisting federal agencies with all phases of certification and accreditation (C&A) planning to comply with smart card-related regulations and guidance, including Appendix III of OMB A-130, National Institute of Standards and Technology Certification and Accreditation Process guidelines (NIST 800 series) and the DoD Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP).

We help security managers with initial C&A program planning, system and application owners with C&A life cycle implementation, and auditors with compliance assessment.

4. What obstacles to growth do you see that must be overcome to capitalize on these opportunities?
Our experience has been that organizations that concentrate on the up-front program planning and design are the organizations most likely to maximize their smart card technology investments.   Obstacles to growth can occur when this up-front planning fails to account for ancillary costs, such as modifications required to backend systems, certification and accreditation, and training -- to name a few.   These secondary costs can sometimes catch smart card adopters off guard.   To avoid these obstacles, it's important for organizations to plan their smart card rollouts in the context of their overall IT and security architectures.  

5. What do you see are the key factors driving smart card technology in the market?  

We see the smart card market in the context of the growth in larger-scale identity systems globally.   These larger-scale identity systems include civil and military, employee and international travel IDs.   Within each of these segments, there are different key drivers.   HSPD-12 is an obvious driver for federal identity systems in the U.S.   Internationally, ICAO has played a key role in boosting smart card adoption in the travel ID market through its advancement of the 9303 Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) specifications.    

6. How do you see your involvement in the Alliance and the industry councils helping SAIC?

A principle benefit to SAIC in its involvement in the Alliance is access to the first-rate technical expertise of its members. In particular, the Alliance's Industry and Technology councils foster sharing of knowledge and solutions across critical industry problem sets.   On multiple occasions, SAIC has leveraged Alliance white papers, best practice publications and conference proceedings to help with our own implementation of smart card technology as well as that of many of our customers.  

7. What are some of SAIC's key discriminators in the smart card and Identity Management areas?

A key discriminator for us is our Biometrics Research Center, which has been serving customers for over seven years in the areas of smart card and biometric technologies.   The center provides platform-independent scientific, engineering and systems integration services, drawing on a wealth of technology options.   Additionally, the center provides briefings and demonstrations that showcase our excellence in smart card and biometric system integration. The center is SAIC's premier demonstration facility for identity management capabilities and is designed to highlight the company's capabilities to integrate complex systems across multiple business domains.

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