A former U.S. Department of Defense director who oversaw the implementation of 11 million smart cards for military personnel met with federal government agencies in Canberra last week. Robert Brandewie said non-technical issues such as implementing the right policies are the biggest challenge in smart card rollouts. Australias own health and social services access card, which will replace 17 existing welfare cards, will be phased in over two years from 2008 at a cost of more than 1 billion Australian dollars (US$755.2 million)”]