Keeping Track

A master at matching identities, Robert Brandewie boosts security and services.

Robert Brandewie has made a career of keeping track of people. As the chief architect of the Defense Department's identity program-officially known as the Common Access Card program-Brandewie oversaw a network that to date has issued more than 10 million smart cards. The cards, used by active-duty military and civilian personnel as well as some government contractors, control access to secure Defense computer networks, encrypted e-mail and facilities. In 2004, President Bush directed the government to devise and implement a smart card system for all federal employees, based on Defense's common access card.

Brandewie, who retired from government service in July 2006, is now a senior vice president of public sector solutions at ActivIdentity Corp., which supplies much of the technology for Defense's smart cards. The Fremont, Calif.-based government contractor helps organizations worldwide manage their identity and credentialing systems.

For Brandewie, it's a job not unlike his previous one at the Defense Manpower Data Center, where he worked for more than 30 years. At the Monterey, Calif., agency, Brandewie also led a government- wide computer-matching debt program that identified federal employees, military members and retirees who owed the government money. He helped roll out one of the world's largest personnel surveys, which asks more than 500,000 military and civilian personnel and their families about their quality of life with the Defense Department.

In addition, Brandewie developed a people-tracking system to manage the evacuation of civilians from a war zone, or the site of an overseas natural disaster, until their return to the United States. A related system was used at Fort Polk, La., after Hurricane Katrina to help more than 5,000 service members returning from Iraq whose homes or families were affected by the disaster.

Brandewie, a Connecticut native who moved to California shortly after entering public service, earned a master's degree in personnel psychology at Yale University. "I was interested in organization design, how organizations work and how to improve performance," he says.

One of his first projects when he joined the Defense Manpower Data Center in the early 1970s involved tracking human resources trends and the changing demographics that arose when the military transitioned from the draft system to an all-volunteer force. "The draft, although imperfect, hit all segments of society," says Brandewie, 58. "With an all-volunteer force, there was certainly the danger that it would overrepresent the poorer segments of society."

At ActivIdentity, Brandewie is working on a project in Australia that involves creating a national health card for its citizens. "From a government point of view, you want to make sure the right people are getting the benefits," he says. "If a citizen interacts with health care providers, the card can provide a way that they can securely communicate."