Global War on Terror: United States to Require Passports for Nearly All Air Travelers on January 23, 2007

Travelers wait to check baggage Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006, at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco.

AP: U.S. to require passports for nearly all

Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.

The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department plans to announce the change on Wednesday.

Until now, the department had not set a specific date for instituting the passport requirement for air travelers, though the start had been expected to be around the beginning of the year. Setting the date on Jan. 23 pushes the start past the holiday season.

The requirement marks a change for Americans, Canadians, Bermudians and some Mexicans.

Currently, U.S. citizens returning from other countries in the hemisphere are not required to present passports but must show other proof of citizenship such as driver’s licenses or birth certificates.

About time. Applying and obtaining an American Passport is not overly burdensome. Requiring a passport for ALL foreign travelers post 9/11 is ESSENTIAL.

Visitors from most countries in the hemisphere are required to show passports. However, people from Canada, Bermuda — and those from Mexico who enter the U.S. frequently and have special border-crossing cards — have been allowed to use other forms of identification, including driver’s licenses.

“Right now, there are 8,000 different state and local entities in the U.S. issuing birth certificates and driver’s licenses,” Chertoff said. Having to distinguish phony from real in so many different documents “puts an enormous burden on our Customs and Border inspectors,” he said.

In a few cases, other documents still may be used for air entry into the U.S. by some frequent travelers between the U.S. and Canada, members of the American military on official business and some U.S. merchant mariners.

Under a separate program, Homeland Security plans to require all travelers, including Americans, entering the U.S. by land or sea to show a passport or an alternative security identification card starting as early as January 2008.

The Homeland Security Department estimates that about one in four Americans has a passport.

The SOONER, the BETTER for ALL foreign travelers in the United States to be required to have a Passport and a biometric one at that.

Stay tuned……..

Technorati Tags: HomelandSecurity, Passport, AmericanPassport, MichaelChertoff, Canada, Bermuda, Mexico