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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