LONDON, England – "We should never allow a good story to get in the way of the facts," quips British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. By turning the old cliché on its head, Ms Smith wants to highlight the facts about the new national identity scheme she has just unveiled for Britain.

Jacqui Smith shows off the new IS card.

British Home Office officials confidently predict that every new immigrant will be given a card within three years and that by 2015 most foreign nationals in the UK will have the new identity card complete with a picture, and a fingerprint-encoded chip. More importantly, this is part of an overall plan by the British government to introduce biometric passports for its citizens.

The Home secretary was quite categorical when I asked her, she insists her government's plans are a matter of national security.

"There is some evidence that in terrorist plots, for example, people have used multiple identities. If through our national identity scheme we're able to lock people securely to their own identity and be clear that other people are who they say they are, that may well help us with our battle in improving national security"

Ms. Smith has made short work of a chaotic government department. She is earnest in her intentions and direct in her actions. So, before unveiling this scheme she wanted cold, hard facts to back up her assertion that most people would welcome a ‘bulletproof' way to prove who they are.  And she got it.

 
"As the latest public attitudes analysis I am releasing today shows, public support for our proposals has remained broadly steady – at nearly 60% – even after a series of high-profile government data losses" Ms. Smith reported.

Ok, she brought it up, not me. The data losses in what is essentially a well-funded and supposedly sophisticated bureaucracy have been staggering. My point is that no matter how well intentioned or necessary these programs are, the question from Joe-Public should always be: Can we really trust you with this?

I wish I had the answer.