Defence

Chief Information Officer

The key to Defence's security and identity

The Defence Common Access Card (DCAC) Project is currently rolling out a new access control system at the Russell and Campbell Park Office precincts in Canberra as a precursor to the national installation of the system.

The new system will provide Defence staff with faster and more reliable access to physical Defence assets such as bases, establishments and buildings. Within three to five years, logical Defence assets like computer networks and communication systems will have more robust access controls and will require this technology.

The events of 11 September 2001 provided an impetus for Defence to improve many aspects of security and access control across the board. With this in mind, Operation Safe Base undertook a Defence Vulnerability Review (DVR) to determine possible inadequacies in the Defence security environment.

Funds were made available to address the more serious deficiencies identified in the DVR, such as physical access control infrastructure improvements, including the development and assessment of a new standard for a Defence identity card through the ACT pilot program.

The DCAC Project has been undertaken by the Chief Information Officer Group, in association with the Corporate Services and Infrastructure Group and the Defence Security Authority (DSA).

An aligned initiative is the Defence Identity Management Project known as JP2099 CERTE. Through this project, Defence will develop processes, procedures and systems to ensure that the identity of all Defence staff and contractors is authenticated using a known methodology. As well, Defence computing infrastructure, communications systems, sensors and even weapons themselves will receive an identity that may be authenticated. These advances in technology are an important element of achieving a Network-Centric Warfare (NCW) enabled force.

"A Defence standard identity card that interfaces with access control systems is the key to providing Defence with a more integrated physical and logical access control environment," says Steve Wijnen, Program Director, Common Services.

The DCAC Project has completed four significant achievements to date; these are:

• replacement of the failing Russell and Campbell Park Offices physical access control system;
• replacement of the noisy, and often unreliable barriers at Russell and Campbell Park Offices with a new system;
• provision of new identity cards to all ACT Defence pass holders; and
• development of a Defence identity card standard for access cards and access card readers.

As Defence personnel will be aware, previous access barriers required physical contact between the card and the reader, often resulting in mechanical failure. This is not the case with the new barrier systems because the new DCAC only needs to be waved over the reader, removing any physical contact between the card and the reader. The new access control system is therefore faster and more reliable.

Following DSA agreement to, and sign-off on, the DCAC Project delivered standards, all new implementations or upgrades of physical access control systems will be the same. Such consistency will deliver interchangeable access control across the Department.

Looking ahead, the Chief Information Officer Group will be developing this system further in order to deliver the fundamental building blocks necessary for a Defence network-enabled force of the future.

This diagram shows the number of PCs that CIO Group has upgraded to Microsoft Windows XP as at 28 February 2006. Visit the CIO Group website at http://intranet.defence.gov.au/ciogweb/ for the most recent figures.

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