Press Releases For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010 August 25, 2005

The National Capital Region (NCR) is leading the nation inentifying first responders with a new smart card credentialing effort. The First Responder Partnership Initiative (FRPI) is designed as a model for other regions to enhance cooperation and efficiency between state and local first responders and their federal counterparts. "We are excited to launch an effort that will help the country better coordinate its most valuable resources -- its people -- during an incident," said Tom Lockwood, Director of the Department of Homeland Security's Office of National Capital Region Coordination. "I encourage state and local governments to adopt the interoperable technology to support mutual aide across jurisdictional lines." The architecture of the card, which uses the FIPS 201 and 14443 contactless standards, willentify first responders and their qualification(s) at the site of an incident, so they may move rapidly into, out of, and within an area in a trusted and secure manner. The card will be recognized across all NCR federal, state, and local multi-jurisdictions. The smart card technology is standards-based and can serve as a platform for: physical access into buildings logical access to networks human resource asset accountability incident command and control property/firearms accountability National Incident Management System (NIMS) integration The Partnership has strong endorsement and unwavering commitment from State and Local leadership within the National Capital Region. For more information on the new credentialing system, please contact Craig A. Wilson, First Responder Partnership Coordinator, at 202-254-2305.