New Passport Rules Aren’t Making You Safer
Another lesson in unintended consequences…
A new rule aimed at protecting US borders is behind the backlog of passport applications that has frustrated countless Americans this summer.
But some experts and federal employees who check applications warn that these shortcomings mean more work needs to be done to improve this aspect of national security.
Increasing the number of Americans who hold passports will enhance border security, they agree. But limitations in the approval process, they add, make it difficult to be sure that those who shouldn’t get a passport don’t. Some argue that adjudicators aren’t given enough time to thoroughly check applications; others say the databases used to verify an applicant’s identity and eligibility are incomplete.
Changing the rules had two major effects. First, it discouraged many Americans from traveling to Canada/Mexico/Caribbean, because they don’t want to jump through all the hoops of getting a passport. But because so many others got their applications in all at once, the overload has made it impossible for them to do due diligence to make sure they’re actually not falsifying those documents. Of course, they believe they’re secure.
Passports are among the most secure government-issued documents. To receive passports, US citizens must prove citizenship and identity by presenting a birth certificate or baptismal record and a government-issued ID.
And even if the passports are correctly issued, there’s still another problem. The weakest link is a border checkpoint, where border workers have incentive to get people through. The process to get a passport might be incredibly strict, but if the process to show your passport to walk across the border is not, it doesn’t do much good. And that doesn’t even take illegal crossings into consideration.
As with most things the government does to make you safer, it adds to the hassle and the appearance of security, but doesn’t really provide it.
