The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is taking a leadership role in the development of a Federal Public Key Infrastructure that supports digital signatures and other public key-enabled security services. NIST is coordinating with industry and technical groups developing PKI technology to foster interoperability of PKI products and projects. In support of digital signatures, NIST has worked with the Federal PKI Steering Committee to produce digital signature guidance.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has also produced a digital signature guidance document entitled "Records Management Guidance for Agencies Implementing Electronic Signature Technologies."

The DOJ Final Guidance on legal considerations related to e-filing and record keeping on the ecommerce web page is now available. In addition, Attorney General Reno's Cover Memorandum to the Justice Department Guide on Legal Considerations in Designing and Implementing Electronic Processes (November 22, 2000) and Justice Department Guide on Legal Considerations in Designing and Implementing Electronic Processes (November 2000) (pdf version) are also available.

The PKI overview is a good starting point, particularly  if you are not familiar with NIST's PKI Program. In addition to the overview, this website includes pages devoted to each of the key components of the progam, papers, and pointers to related NIST web sites. 

NIST is currently concentrating on PKI architectures, security requirements for PKI components, and PKI-enabled applications. The PKI architecture work is divided between development of complex PKIs based on the bridge CA concept and theoretical modeling of PKI performance. The goal of NIST's security requirements work is a Common Criteria Protection Profile.

NIST's PKI and S/MIME programs have been merged, reflecting NIST's increased attention to PKI-aware applications. Secure mail is a priority application for nearly every organization, whether in the private sector or government. Information on NIST's S/MIME program can be found on the NIST S/MIME Project's home page. NIST is also pursuing XML digital signatures using PKI to verify the identity of the signer, based on the IETF/W3C draft specifications.