A Florida company’s efforts to sell its radio frequency identification chips to the Pentagon could endanger U.S. troops, a software expert said.
VeriChip Corp. has admitted it is lobbying the Air Force, Navy and Department of Veterans Affairs for the right to put its identification chips into military personnel.
The company says the chips will allow medics to pull up a wounded G.I.’s medical history instantly and thus save lives.
But Joseph Koontz, a computer security and forensics expert from Houston, said the chips, which will replace standard dog tags, may make U.S. troops more vulnerable.
Koontz, who was in D.C. this week for a security conference, said that the chips can be detected easily by sending out an electrical pulse. That isn’t so bad in the civilian world, but it’s a bad idea in the military world, Koontz said.
“You’ve got to think of the worst-case scenario, and they haven’t done that,” said Koontz, who runs his own consultant company.
Koontz also said the VeriChip raises health concerns of its own. The company only has government approval to make glass chips, not plastic chips, Koontz said. In battle, it’s not hard to shatter the glass and scatter the tags’ constituent parts — some of which could be toxic — in a troop’s body, Koontz said.
The company defended its product as safe for military use on Thursday.
“The outer capsule is made of medical-grade glass, which has proven to be extremely bio-compatible,” VeriChip spokeswoman Nicole Philbin said.
And — despite Koontz’ claims that an antenna could expose the position of troops — the chip can’t be activated from a distance greater than 2 1/2 inches, Philbin said.
VeriChip’s proposal already has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has said he’s worried about privacy and health of U.S. troops.
And Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., has asked his staff to look into VeriChip’s proposal as well.
A lot is riding on VeriChip’s ability to sell the Pentagon on its tags. The company is about to offer its stock to the public and a Pentagon-wide contract would more than double its net worth.
