S.H.I.E.L.D. Lanyard

"Very soon, you're gonna be issued your very own lanyard. Lanyards for others will be distributed on a case-by-case basis."

- Eric Koenig to Phil Coulson

S.H.I.E.L.D. Lanyards are the means of identification used by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stationed in Nick Fury's secret bases, such as Providence and Playground. They were implemented as the standard mean of identification by Phil Coulson once he became the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

History
Nick Fury, aware of the rise of potential threats after the Battle of New York, established a series of secret bases with a single agent stationed in them, whose existence was unknown even to the majority of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents and leaders, and where agents were identified by having an electronic lanyard installed with a tracker system that allowed his current location to be monitored.

Two years later, during the S.H.I.E.L.D. Civil War, Phil Coulson was given a set of coordinates which led to one of these bases Providence, where he and his team were received by Providence's guardian, Agent Eric Koenig. Koenig promised Coulson to issue him his own lanyard, while the lanyards for others would be distributed on a case-by-case basis.

Before letting them get out of the base, especially when Coulson wanted to lead a splinter team in order to chase one of the former inmates of the Fridge, Marcus Daniels, Koenig told him that they all have to go through orientation, submitting themselves to a series of questions in Fury's Lie Detector. Every member of Coulson's Team passed the test, including Grant Ward, who avoided blowing his cover through clever answering, and all of them were granted their lanyards, wearing them while being inside Providence.

While Skye and Koenig were consulting criminal reports in hope of discovering the whereabouts of other escapees from the Fridge, Skye deduced the secondary function of the lanyards as a tracker, watching Koenig's tablet with a map of Providence and the location of the three agents present at that moment.

Ward was later forced to kill Koenig and hid his body in a closet, in order for him not to discover his status as a HYDRA agent while revising the NSA satellite images Skye managed to hack. When Skye wasn't able to locate Koenig, she used Koenig's tracker to know his location, finding Koenig's body and realizing that Ward was a member of HYDRA.

Eventually, Coulson was able to defeat John Garrett with help of Nick Fury, who ended up appointing him as the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Coulson was given a Toolbox to aid him in his mission of rebuilding the agency, finding the coordinates of another of the secret bases, the Playground, where they were greeted by Agent Billy Koenig, Eric Koenig's brother.

Koenig, like his brother did before, promised to issue Coulson with his own lanyard, while the lanyards for others would be distributed on a case-by-case basis.

In order to enter the Playground, each agent must have his lanyard scanned by a card reader which identified the person.

Leo Fitz wore his lanyard prominently when he interrupted a training session between Melinda May and Skye.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent
A Lanyard was given to Alex Mind so that he could access the Marvel Studios as a production assistant on the sets of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.