--- title: White House To Secure Government Credit Cards description: President Obama will sign an executive order Friday to improve security measures for government credit and debit cards. canonical: https://time.com/3517015/obama-credit-cards/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T16:29:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:51:33.958Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House To Secure Government Credit Cards og:description: President Obama will sign an executive order Friday to improve security measures for government credit and debit cards. og:url: https://time.com/3517015/obama-credit-cards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141f197fa9bf314d/69876158a988ca50006a9e13/obama-credit-cards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4224 og:image:height: 2376 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-OBAMA-CFPB og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House To Secure Government Credit Cards twitter:description: President Obama will sign an executive order Friday to improve security measures for government credit and debit cards. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141f197fa9bf314d/69876158a988ca50006a9e13/obama-credit-cards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Signs Order to Secure Government Credit Cards From Data Breaches > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 17, 2014 4:29 PM UTC  President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order to implement enhanced security measures on consumers' financial security following remarks at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in Washington, DC, October 17, 2014. President Barack Obama signs an Executive Order to implement enhanced security measures on consumers' financial security following remarks at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in Washington, DC, October 17, 2014. SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 17, 2014 4:29 PM UTC President Obama signed an executive order Friday to improve security measures for government credit and debit cards, equipping them with microchips in place of the standard magnetic strips and PINs. Obama discussed the new order during remarks at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Friday. “Last year . . . more than 100 million Americans had information that was compromised in data breaches in some of our largest companies,” said Obama, referring to high-profile security breaches at Target and Home Depot. “Identify theft is now America’s fastest growing crime. These crimes don’t just cost companies and consumers billions of dollars every year, they also threaten the economic security of middle class Americans who worked really hard for a lifetime to build some sort of security.” “The idea that somebody halfway around the world could run up thousands of dollars in charges in your name just because they stole your number or because you swiped your card at the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s infuriating,” said Obama. “For victims it’s heartbreaking. And as a country we’ve got to do more to stop it.” Obama highlighted the efforts of Home Depot and Target to secure their systems after being hit by breaches this year. They will join Walmart and Walgreens in installing chip and PIN technology in all their stores, most by the beginning of next year. Obama also noted that the Federal Trade Commission will develop [IdentityTheft.gov](http://identitytheft.gov/) for victims to aide the reporting and remediation process with credit bureaus. “Identity theft has been American consumers’ number one complaint for more than a decade, and it affects people in every community across the nation,” said Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “I welcome the opportunity for the Federal Trade Commission to participate in this new initiative advancing efforts to address this insidious problem on behalf of consumers.” The White House also called on Congress to pass data breach and cybersecurity legislation. “The current patchwork of laws governing a company’s obligations in the event of a data breach is unsustainable, and helps no one,” wrote the White House in a statement. — _With reporting from Sam Frizell_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3517015/obama-credit-cards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3517015/obama-credit-cards/"},"headline":"Obama Signs Order to Secure Government Credit Cards From Data Breaches","datePublished":"2014-10-17T16:29:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:51:33.958Z","description":"\"Identify theft is now America's fastest growing crime,\" said Obama.","url":"https://time.com/3517015/obama-credit-cards/","keywords":["White House","cybersecurity","credit card","Debit Card"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141f197fa9bf314d/69876158a988ca50006a9e13/obama-credit-cards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt141f197fa9bf314d/69876158a988ca50006a9e13/obama-credit-cards.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA-CFPB","caption":"US-POLITICS-OBAMA-CFPB","creditText":"SAUL LOEB—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3517015/obama-credit-cards/","name":"Obama Signs Order to Secure Government Credit Cards From Data Breaches"}}]}] ```