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ID cards doomed, say officials
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2006 06:21:50 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk> Date: July 9, 2006 5:41:51 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: ID cards doomed, say officials Hi Dave:Today's (UK) Sunday Times has an explosive article based on leaked emails, about the planned National ID Card scheme.
TONY BLAIR'S flagship identity cards scheme is set to fail and may not be introduced for a generation, according to leaked Whitehall e- mails from the senior officials responsible for the multi-billion- pound project.The problems are so serious that ministers have been forced to draw up plans for a scaled-down "face-saving" version to meet their pledge of phasing in the cards from 2008.However, civil servants say there is no evidence that even this compromise is "remotely feasible" and accuse ministers of "ignoring reality" by pressing ahead.One official warns of a "botched operation" that could put back the introduction of ID cards for a generation. He added: "I conclude that we are setting ourselves up to fail." Another admits he is planning Home Office strategy around the possibility that the scheme could be "canned completely".In one e-mail the prime minister is personally blamed for the fiasco with his proposal for a scaled-down or "early variant" version. "It was a Mr Blair apparently who wanted the 'early variant' card. Not my idea," writes a top Home Office civil servant.The e-mails expose another crisis for John Reid, the home secretary, who has already labelled his department as "not fit for purpose" following the recent foreign prisoners scandal.The correspondence has been leaked by a senior official close to the Treasury. He acknowledges that the documents will infuriate ministers because they contradict the government's public statements on ID cards.. . .The e-mail correspondence last month was between Peter Smith, acting commercial director at the Identity and Passport Service, the Home Office agency set up to bring in the cards, and David Foord, the ID card project director at the Office of Government Commerce, which is responsible for vetting the project to ensure that the Treasury gets value for taxpayers' money.They reveal that the government is "rethinking" the entire scheme with an alternative "face-saving" compromise, which Smith blames on Blair. This "early variant" plan appears to involve collecting and storing biometric data on a temporary ID register but makes no mention of actually using it on cards.However, officials doubt that this will work. Foord writes: "Just because ministers say do something does not mean we ignore reality - which is what seems to have happened on ID cards until [the contracts were due] to be issued and then reality could not be ignored any longer."He adds: "Even if everything went perfectly (which it will not) it is very debatable (given performance of government IT projects) whether whatever [the register] turns out to be (and that is a worry in itself) can be procured, delivered, tested and rolled out in just over two years and whether the resources exist within government and industry to run two overlapping procurements. . . . Last night the Home Office said it remained committed to an ID card scheme but had always maintained its introduction would be an "incremental" process.
Full story at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2262437,00.html Cheers Brian -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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