Enhanced Driver’s Licenses (“EDL”) are now being issued or will be issued by six states: Washington State, New York, Michigan, Vermont, California and Arizona. The EDL can be used by U.S. citizens for entering the U.S. at land and sea ports of entry instead of a passport card or book.
A Briggs recommends that all regular international travelers who reside in one of the issuing states apply for an EDL.
Washington State is the first state to issue the license, New York State is the second and the others states are following.
The EDL can be used exactly like the new passport card now issued by the U.S. State Department; that is, it can be used in lieu of the passport card or passport book for entering and leaving the U.S. ONLY for land and sea crossings. U.S. citizens traveling by air to any international destination must have a passport book – the traditional passport.
You cannot use an EDL or a passport card for international air travel to any destination out of the U.S, including Canada and Mexico.
Washington State has ads available for use online in the public domain. The purpose of the ads is to promote the use of the EDL for persons who will cross into Canada from Washington State.
Only U.S. citizens can apply for the EDL. When doing so, citizens must present proof of citizenship as a part of the driver’s license process application process. The cost is $25 to $30 higher than the regular driver’s license. The EDL gives the holder the right to drive a vehicle, it proves the identity of the holder, and it proves the U.S. citizenship of the holder. For more information, contact the DMV in the issuing state. Applicants for an EDL must be a legal resident of the state in which they are applying for an EDL. Citizens of states not issuing an EDL cannot obtain one and must apply for either a passport card or a passport book.
Because the passport card is restricted in use for crossing borders only by land and sea and cannot be used for international air travel, A Briggs recommends securing a passport book – the traditional passport.
The Department of Homeland Security claims EDLs will “make it quicker and easier to cross the border back into the United States because they will contain
* A vicinity Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip that will signal a computer to pull up your biographic and biometric data for the CBP [Customs and Border Patrol] Officer as you pull up to the border, and
* A Machine Readable Zone or barcode that the CBP officer can read electronically if RFID isn’t available.”
No personally identifiable information will be stored on the EDL’s RFID chip or be transmitted by the EDL. The EDL uses a unique identification number which will link to the information contained in a secure database. This number will not contain any personal information.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Body scanners replace metal detectors in tryout at Tulsa airport
For the first time, some airline passengers will skip metal detectors and instead be screened by body scanning machines that look through clothing for hidden weapons, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
An experimental program that begins today at Tulsa International Airport will test whether the $170,000 body scanners could replace $10,000 metal detectors that have screened airline passengers since 1973. Airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City will join the test in the next two months, TSA spokesman Christopher White said.
The scanners aim to close a loophole by finding non-metallic weapons such as plastic and liquid explosives, which the TSA considers a major threat. The machines raise privacy concerns because their images reveal outlines of private body parts.
"We're getting closer and closer to a required strip-search to board an airplane," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Privacy advocate Melissa Ngo fears that passengers won't understand that the scanners take vivid images that screeners view.
White said each scanner has explanatory signs on how the machines work and posters showing the image they create.
Passengers at the test airports will be instructed to go through the new scanners. Anyone who doesn't want to go through will be allowed to refuse and instead go through a metal detector and receive a pat-down, White said.
People in the scanner will stand with their arms raised and their face will be blurred out in the metallic-looking image on a nearby screen. TSA screeners view the images from inside a closed room near a checkpoint and immediately delete them.
"We've struck a very good balance between security and privacy," White said.
Christopher Bidwell, security chief at the Airports Council International trade group, said the scanner "really does not reveal as much as some people might think."
The scanners aim to address problems exposed by government probes in which covert agents got liquid explosives and detonators through airport checkpoints. A 2005 Homeland Security report urged better checkpoint technology.
Security analyst Bruce Schneier, a frequent critic of the TSA, said the scanners should improve security but warned that they take longer than metal detectors — 30 seconds vs. about 15 seconds per passenger. "There will be pressure to do the screening faster, which will be sloppier," Schneier said.
The scanners bounce harmless "millimeter waves" off passengers' bodies and use no radiation.
The TSA has done preliminary tests of the scanner on passengers who had just passed through metal detectors. Those tests found that the machines excel at finding hidden objects, White said.
Based on the results of the latest test, the TSA will decide at an undetermined date whether to use more body scanners in place of metal detectors.
An experimental program that begins today at Tulsa International Airport will test whether the $170,000 body scanners could replace $10,000 metal detectors that have screened airline passengers since 1973. Airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami, Albuquerque and Salt Lake City will join the test in the next two months, TSA spokesman Christopher White said.
The scanners aim to close a loophole by finding non-metallic weapons such as plastic and liquid explosives, which the TSA considers a major threat. The machines raise privacy concerns because their images reveal outlines of private body parts.
"We're getting closer and closer to a required strip-search to board an airplane," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Privacy advocate Melissa Ngo fears that passengers won't understand that the scanners take vivid images that screeners view.
White said each scanner has explanatory signs on how the machines work and posters showing the image they create.
Passengers at the test airports will be instructed to go through the new scanners. Anyone who doesn't want to go through will be allowed to refuse and instead go through a metal detector and receive a pat-down, White said.
People in the scanner will stand with their arms raised and their face will be blurred out in the metallic-looking image on a nearby screen. TSA screeners view the images from inside a closed room near a checkpoint and immediately delete them.
"We've struck a very good balance between security and privacy," White said.
Christopher Bidwell, security chief at the Airports Council International trade group, said the scanner "really does not reveal as much as some people might think."
The scanners aim to address problems exposed by government probes in which covert agents got liquid explosives and detonators through airport checkpoints. A 2005 Homeland Security report urged better checkpoint technology.
Security analyst Bruce Schneier, a frequent critic of the TSA, said the scanners should improve security but warned that they take longer than metal detectors — 30 seconds vs. about 15 seconds per passenger. "There will be pressure to do the screening faster, which will be sloppier," Schneier said.
The scanners bounce harmless "millimeter waves" off passengers' bodies and use no radiation.
The TSA has done preliminary tests of the scanner on passengers who had just passed through metal detectors. Those tests found that the machines excel at finding hidden objects, White said.
Based on the results of the latest test, the TSA will decide at an undetermined date whether to use more body scanners in place of metal detectors.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
2012 are you prepared!
What a coincidence the national broadcast warning messages interupts on how the Dutch are preparing for 2012....
Real ID..The End Is Near!
REAL ID is a nationwide effort to improve the integrity and security of state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards, which in turn will help fight terrorism and reduce fraud.
The 9/11 Commission recommended that the U.S. improve its system for issuing identification documents, urging the federal government to set standards for the issuance of sources of identification. The REAL ID Act of 2005 was Congress' response to this key recommendation.
REAL ID-compliant licenses and ID cards must meet minimum standards which include
*
information and security features that must be incorporated into each card
*
applicant's proof of identity and lawful status
*
verification of the applicant's source documents
*
security standards for issuance of licenses and identification cards
Why We Need REAL ID
Raising the standards of state-issued identification is an important step toward enhancing national security. Because a driver's license serves so many purposes (access to federal buildings, nuclear power plants, boarding aircraft, etc.), terrorists actively seek fraudulent state-issued identification. The REAL ID rules will make it more difficult for them, while making it easier for law enforcement to detect falsified documents.
REAL ID Current Status
REAL ID went into effect May 11, 2008. Recognizing states need more time to implement REAL ID, the Department has offered states an extension to allow time to meet the requirements; all states received an extension.
If your state has been granted a REAL ID extension, your current driver's license is still a valid form of identification for boarding a federally-regulated airplane, accessing a federal facility or nuclear power plant.
REAL ID Privacy Impact Assessment
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), as mandated by the E-Government Act of 2002, ensures that the Department is fully transparent about how intended information technology systems may affect privacy. The REAL ID PIA examines how drivers' and identification holders' personal information will be collected, used, disseminated, and maintained.
The 9/11 Commission recommended that the U.S. improve its system for issuing identification documents, urging the federal government to set standards for the issuance of sources of identification. The REAL ID Act of 2005 was Congress' response to this key recommendation.
REAL ID-compliant licenses and ID cards must meet minimum standards which include
*
information and security features that must be incorporated into each card
*
applicant's proof of identity and lawful status
*
verification of the applicant's source documents
*
security standards for issuance of licenses and identification cards
Why We Need REAL ID
Raising the standards of state-issued identification is an important step toward enhancing national security. Because a driver's license serves so many purposes (access to federal buildings, nuclear power plants, boarding aircraft, etc.), terrorists actively seek fraudulent state-issued identification. The REAL ID rules will make it more difficult for them, while making it easier for law enforcement to detect falsified documents.
REAL ID Current Status
REAL ID went into effect May 11, 2008. Recognizing states need more time to implement REAL ID, the Department has offered states an extension to allow time to meet the requirements; all states received an extension.
If your state has been granted a REAL ID extension, your current driver's license is still a valid form of identification for boarding a federally-regulated airplane, accessing a federal facility or nuclear power plant.
REAL ID Privacy Impact Assessment
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), as mandated by the E-Government Act of 2002, ensures that the Department is fully transparent about how intended information technology systems may affect privacy. The REAL ID PIA examines how drivers' and identification holders' personal information will be collected, used, disseminated, and maintained.
Monday, November 24, 2008
New machines scan IDs at border crossings
Agents along the Canada and Mexico borders are using a controversial new machine that can "read" the personal information contained in some government-issued ID cards — such as passports and driver's licenses — as travelers approach a checkpoint.
The Homeland Security Department says the new practice will tighten security and speed the flow of traffic. Privacy advocates say the technology could make Americans less secure because terrorists or other criminals may be able to steal the personal information off the ID cards remotely.
"There's this strange rush to a fancy or shiny new technology," says Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The cards "are quite vulnerable" to being cloned or having their codes broken.
Machines are in place at five crossings — Blaine, Wash.; Buffalo; Detroit; Nogales, Ariz.; and San Ysidro, Calif. — as part of the government's requirement that anyone who crosses the border must show a passport or other government documents proving citizenship and identity. The machines are being activated in Buffalo today; machines in Blaine and Nogales are in use; the rest will be on line over the next couple of months.
The new technology is being used in conjunction with new government passports, passcards and driver's licenses embedded with computer chips that contain the holder's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number and a digitized photo. The personal data can be "read" by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machine as the person approaches a border-crossing checkpoint.
By the time a car stops at the Customs booth, the agent will have the photos and information of everyone in the car. If a name is on a watch list or database, the person will be taken in for questioning. The system will be "more efficient," says Thomas Winkowski of Customs and Border Protection.
Privacy-rights advocates warn that terrorists or other criminals can use their own machines in a process called "skimming" to read the information from as far as 50 feet. Consumer privacy expert Katherine Albrecht says the chips create the "potential for a whole surveillance network to be set up." She says police could use them to find criminals, abusive husbands to find their wives, and stores to track customers.
Homeland Security says the chips are made not to reveal personal information to machine readers — just a code, that then shows the information on the border agents' screen. The cards also come with protective sleeves for when they're not in use.
The border crossing ID requirement takes effect in June. So far, 600,000 State Department passcards and 40,000 embedded licenses from Washington state and New York have been issued.
The Homeland Security Department says the new practice will tighten security and speed the flow of traffic. Privacy advocates say the technology could make Americans less secure because terrorists or other criminals may be able to steal the personal information off the ID cards remotely.
"There's this strange rush to a fancy or shiny new technology," says Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The cards "are quite vulnerable" to being cloned or having their codes broken.
Machines are in place at five crossings — Blaine, Wash.; Buffalo; Detroit; Nogales, Ariz.; and San Ysidro, Calif. — as part of the government's requirement that anyone who crosses the border must show a passport or other government documents proving citizenship and identity. The machines are being activated in Buffalo today; machines in Blaine and Nogales are in use; the rest will be on line over the next couple of months.
The new technology is being used in conjunction with new government passports, passcards and driver's licenses embedded with computer chips that contain the holder's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number and a digitized photo. The personal data can be "read" by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machine as the person approaches a border-crossing checkpoint.
By the time a car stops at the Customs booth, the agent will have the photos and information of everyone in the car. If a name is on a watch list or database, the person will be taken in for questioning. The system will be "more efficient," says Thomas Winkowski of Customs and Border Protection.
Privacy-rights advocates warn that terrorists or other criminals can use their own machines in a process called "skimming" to read the information from as far as 50 feet. Consumer privacy expert Katherine Albrecht says the chips create the "potential for a whole surveillance network to be set up." She says police could use them to find criminals, abusive husbands to find their wives, and stores to track customers.
Homeland Security says the chips are made not to reveal personal information to machine readers — just a code, that then shows the information on the border agents' screen. The cards also come with protective sleeves for when they're not in use.
The border crossing ID requirement takes effect in June. So far, 600,000 State Department passcards and 40,000 embedded licenses from Washington state and New York have been issued.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
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