U.S. e-Passport project on track

DHS deputy secretary Michael Jackson said important progress was made in developing biometrically enabled technologies to prevent the use of fraudulent or stolen international travel documents. DHS has been testing e-Passports and e-Passport readers in preparation for the upcoming 26 October deadline, which mandates that all visa waiver travelers — that is, travelers from the twenty-seven countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter the United States — be issued an e-Passport by their countries if they want to enter the United States without a visa.”

“We are adopting biometric, electronically based, and secure travel documents that are tamper resistant, yet provide a very convenient way to move back and forth across our borders,” said Jackson. “We have now successfully completed e-Passport technology testing in a live environment. Working with Visa Waiver countries, we will begin to deploy these important security enhancements this year.””

Recently, US-VISIT conducted a successful test of e-Passports and e-Passport readers with Basic Access Control (BAC) at San Francisco International Airport. BAC enhances the security of the document and protects the privacy of the traveler by preventing the unauthorized reading, or “skimming,” of information. The test, which was conducted between 15 January 2006 and 15 April 2006, evaluated the operational impact of reading and verifying information embedded in the e-Passports on the border inspection process. In the test, which was a collaborative effort among the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore, a total of 1,938 e-Passports were successfully processed in San Francisco. A similar test was conducted in 2005 at Los Angeles International Airport.