WASHINGTON 3/7/01 At the 2001 Global Internet Summit here today, Stephen M. Kearney, Senior Vice President, Corporate and Business Development, offered insight into the U.S. Postal Service's role in the "emerging global framework of the Internet" — the summit's theme. In addressing the audience of industry and government leaders from around the world, Kearney shared lessons the agency has learned from 225 years of experience in dealing with transformational technologies like the Internet, offered examples of physical mail enhancing new communication methods, and asserted that the written word and hard-copy mail still had an important role to play in the 21st century. "The reality as we see it is that an extensive global framework of commerce and communications existed long before the Internet, and it is still very much intact today," said Kearney. "The Postal Service has been down this road before with the telegraph, telephone, television, computers and fax machines. Experience tells us that the Internet works best when it's integrated and allowed to enhance the familiar and powerful framework that already exists." During the 25-minute speech, Kearney announced that a new service to provide individuals with identity validation for the purpose of obtaining electronic signature digital certificates will begin a nationwide rollout in two weeks. The certificate could then be embedded in postal-issued smartcards and used to conduct highly sensitive electronic transactions. This service will be available only to government employees in 46 post offices on the east coast by the middle of this month and will expand nationwide by this fall.