On 27 August 2004, President Bush signed Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12), entitled ‘Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors.’ HSPD-12 requires all departments and agencies of the United States government to issue standard, interoperable identity credentials to everyone who needs more than temporary or occasional access to federal facilities and systems. This paper provides a brief overview of HSPD-12 requirements and discusses how privacy issues are addressed in various implementation documents.