Travelers who thought it was difficult before to get into the US will be even unhappier on 23 January, when all air travelers including US citizens will need to show their passports.
Until now, US. citizens, travelers from Canada and Bermuda, and some travelers from Mexico who have special border-crossing cards for frequent visitors were allowed to show other proofs of identification, such as drivers’ licenses or birth certificates.
“The ability to misuse travel documents to enter this country opens the door for a terrorist to carry out an attack,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
“Each of these steps raises the bar to an attack. None of this is perfect. None of them is foolproof. But we’re always better off when we build higher levels of security,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press.
There are currently 8,000 different state and local entities in the U.S. issuing birth certificates and driver’s licenses, according to Mr Chertoff. Having to distinguish phony from real in so many different documents “puts an enormous burden on our Customs and Border inspectors,” he said.
Under a separate program, Homeland Security plans to require all travelers entering the US by land or sea, including Americans, to show passports or an alternative security identification card when entering the US starting as early as January 2008.
The Homeland Security Department estimates that about one in four Americans has a passport.
Report by David Wilkening
