# Identity for Government: National eIDs, Assurance Levels, and Access

Source: https://startwithidentity.com/articles/identity-for-government/
Last updated: 2026-07-16
License: content by Start with Identity. Cite the source URL.

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Government identity is a category of its own. It serves entire populations rather than customers, it answers to law rather than to conversion metrics, and it carries duties of inclusion and accessibility that private-sector systems can ignore. It also spans two very different problems: letting citizens prove who they are online, and securing the people who run the state. See the [government vertical](https://startwithidentity.com/verticals/government/) page for the broader view.

## Two populations, two problems

**Citizens.** The trend worldwide is toward national eID schemes and central government login portals, so a person can authenticate once and reach many public services. Implementations range from smart national ID cards to mobile eID apps and digital wallets. Our [digital IDs directory](https://startwithidentity.com/digital-ids/) catalogs these schemes country by country, and standards such as [eIDAS 2 and the EU digital identity wallet](https://startwithidentity.com/standards/eidas-2-eudi-wallet/) are pushing the field toward selective-disclosure wallets.

**Workforce.** Public-sector staff, especially in defense and federal agencies, are secured with high-assurance credentials such as PIV and CAC smart cards, which provide strong, phishing-resistant authentication tied to a vetted identity.

## Assurance level is the organizing idea

The concept that structures government identity is assurance. Frameworks define graded levels of confidence and require services to match the level to the sensitivity of what they protect. In the US, NIST SP 800-63 separates identity-proofing assurance (how sure you are the person is who they claim) from authentication assurance (how strong the login is). In the EU, eIDAS defines low, substantial, and high levels. Reading public information may need little assurance; filing taxes or reaching health records needs a lot. Designing to the right level, rather than the maximum everywhere, is what keeps services both secure and usable.

## Duties private systems do not have

- **Accessibility.** Government services are legally required to be usable by people with disabilities, which constrains authentication design in ways a consumer app is not.
- **Inclusion.** A public service cannot exclude the citizen without a smartphone, without a passport, or without reliable connectivity. That forces alternative proofing and login paths, not just the digital-native happy path.
- **Transparency and data protection.** Public trust and law both demand clear data handling, minimization, and often the ability to audit how identity data is used.

## Security posture

Government is a high-value target, so the workforce side leans on phishing-resistant authentication, [zero trust](https://startwithidentity.com/guides/fundamentals/what-is-zero-trust/), and strict access governance, while cloud services frequently must meet authorization regimes such as FedRAMP in the US. The [regulations hub](https://startwithidentity.com/regulations/) tracks the relevant obligations by country.

## Choosing a platform

Public-sector selection weighs assurance-level support, standards conformance (NIST 800-63, eIDAS, and the emerging wallet standards), accessibility, and authorization regimes alongside the usual capabilities. The [best identity tools for government](https://startwithidentity.com/rankings/best-identity-tools-government/) ranking compares options for this vertical. Government identity succeeds when it is trusted, inclusive, and proportionate: strong where the stakes are high, and never so heavy that it shuts eligible people out of services they are entitled to use.