The Foreign Service Journal, December 2005

that improvements are needed in the technology, that human factors must be thoroughly analyzed and that focused training must be implemented. In keeping with requirements adopted by ICAO and directives from the Department of Homeland Security, the new passports are to be issued domestically to all applicants by the end of FY 2006. All 27 nations in the Visa Waiver Program must begin issuing e-passports by Oct. 26, 2006, in order for their citizens to be able to con- tinue to enter the U.S. without first obtaining a visa. According to final regulations issued by the State Department this past Oct. 25, the chips in the new e- passports will have enough memory to accommodate additional biometric information. Moss says that Consular Affairs is already investigating adding addition- al biometrics (e.g., iris scans). Among the general para- meters specified by ICAO to determine the standard for biometric passports, were the requirements that the technology had to support 32 kilobytes of storage, and that stored data needed to be easily accessible and trans- mitted quickly. Because RFID allows data to be collected inconspic- uously and at a distance, privacy and security advocates are wary of its use in many applications, including e-pass- ports. In response to such concerns, the State Depart- ment’s Oct. 25 ruling mandates that the new e-passports be equipped with “anti-skimming” technology. The de- partment is testing the feasibility of sandwiching a metal- lic mesh within the front cover and spine to prevent RF reads until the e-passport is opened and read at close range by an official. In June 22 congressional testimony, Deputy Secretary Moss made clear that the e-passports would not be rolled out until security issues were fully dealt with: “The bottom line is that we will not issue bio- metric passports to the general public until we have suc- cessfully addressed these concerns.” Although very challenging technological hurdles have already been overcome in the development of the e-pass- port, there are still a few other issues. Not the least of these is that the technologies incorporated in the new F O C U S D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 31