Congress questions extension of deadline for biometric passports [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on the Judiciary
F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman
_______________________________________
www.house.gov/judiciary

News Advisory
For immediate release                                   Contact: Jeff 
Lungren/Terry Shawn
March 22, 2004                                                  202-225-2492

Sensenbrenner Requests Information From 21 Countries on Their Progress 
Meeting Deadlines For Passports With Enhanced Security Features

Secretaries Powell and Ridge Request Biometric Passport Deadline 
Extension of Two Years


WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James 
Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) has written 21 Ambassadors to the United 
States requesting information about the ability of their countries to 
meet deadlines for issuing machine-readable passports with biometric 
identifiers.

Chairman Sensenbrenner commented about sending the letters, "Our 
Committee Members recognize the added security protection that biometric 
identifiers will provide in combating terrorism and securing the 
homeland; as a result, deadlines were set for using biometric 
identifiers in passports from those countries whose citizens can enter 
the U.S. without needing a visa.  I recently received a letter from 
Secretary Powell and Secretary Ridge requesting legislation to extend or 
waive the biometric passport deadline for two years.  Congress needs the 
information requested of the Ambassadors in order to address the 
Administration's request."

Biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints or iris recognition, are 
different for each person.  These identifiers are almost impossible to 
counterfeit and, thus, provide a extremely high level of certainty that 
the document being presented is authentic and accurate.  Likewise, the 
tamper-resistant requirement ensures that official documents are not 
easily altered so as to call into question the veracity and the 
usefulness of the document.  Requiring documents be machine-readable 
allows for security codes in the documents to be read and checked 
immediately with terrorist watch lists, etc.

The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 required 
that the federal government establish document authentication and 
biometric identifiers standards to be employed on visas and travel 
documents, and that all passports issued by visa waiver countries after 
October 26, 2004 meet such standards and contain a biometric identifier. 
 By the same date, the federal government is required to install 
equipment and software at all U.S. Ports of Entry to allow biometric 
comparison and authentication of the passports and official travel 
documents presented.

In addition, the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the 2002 Border Security 
legislation together established a separate October 26, 2003 deadline 
whereby travelers from visa waiver program countries must present a 
machine-readable, tamper-resistant passport to enter the United States 
without a visa.   Last year, because the Secretary of State determined 
that most visa waiver countries could not meet the machine-readable 
document requirements, Secretary Powell extended the deadline one year 
for 21 of these countries as he is allowed to do by the USA PATRIOT Act. 
Because the resulting new deadline date provided by Secretary Powell 
coincides with the deadlines set by the Border Security Act, much 
confusion has occurred, particularly in the foreign press, about what 
travel documents will be required to enter the U.S. after October 26, 2004.

It has been widely reported that most of the countries within the visa 
waiver program will not be able to meet these deadlines.  Thus, Chairman 
Sensenbrenner wrote to the 21 Ambassadors, "To enable the Committee to 
determine whether legislation is needed to timely address this issue, 
would you please provide this Committee with the following information:

            Did the Department of State and the Department of Homeland 
Security provide your government with sufficient and timely information 
about the new requirements?




            Will [country] be able to issue legally compliant passports 
before October 26, 2004?

            If not, has [country] initiated a process to revise its 
passports at a later date?

            When is it anticipated that [country's] passports will be 
compliant?

            Does [country] currently use electronic scanners at its 
international ports of entry to read Machine Readable Travel Documents 
(MRTD) compliant with current International Civil Aeronautics 
Organization (ICAO) standards?

            How will the proposed ICAO MRTD standards addressing global 
interoperability, reader technology and contactless chips anticipated to 
be adopted by the ICAO Technical Advisory Group on MRTD in May, 2004 
affect [country's] passport revision plans?"

The 21 countries whose Ambassadors received a letter from Chairman 
Sensenbrenner are: Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, 
Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, the 
Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, 
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The letter from Secretary Powell and Secretary Ridge requesting 
legislation to extend the deadline for two years is available at 
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/ridge031704.pdf
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