WASHINGTON — Veteran ID cards to be issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs will be pushed back to 2017, according to House Veterans Affairs Committee sources, in order to fully test the GPS tracking functionality of the card mandated by Congress.

The implanted radio frequency identification chips, or "RFID trackers," are required by the “Veterans Identification Card Act of 2015,” signed into law by President Obama last July. House Armed Services Committee members say the chips are there "to help protect those who protect our freedom," but none would go on the record about the program, or who authored the amendment requiring the chips.

Similar technology is used in automotive and consumer applications but is proving unreliable in locations veterans typically frequent.

"Our first major challenge was penetrating the windowless clubhouses typical of veteran organizations," said program manager George Orville. "Once we fixed that bug, we moved onto electromagnetic noise from strip club sound systems. But signal interruption from dense structures — like reinforced concrete walls, freezers, aluminum foil hats, and lead-lined containers — really strain today's RFID technology."