Plan to require travel documents at border crossings could be delayed

The Homeland Security Department has made progress rolling out its program for monitoring border crossings, but deploying and testing the technology will pose significant challenges that could cause delays, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office released on Jan. 22.

DHS, consulting with the State Department, has developed the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which specifies the kinds of documents and the requirements that can be used for identification. The initiative was the result of the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which was passed in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. It requires travelers to present a passport or other approved document verifying their identity when crossing into the United States from countries in North, Central or South America.

DHS must deploy the initiative at land and sea ports of entry by June 1, 2009. Starting Jan. 31, anyone entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean region must present a U.S. passport or valid travel documents, such as a radio frequency identification passport card currently being developed, or a driver's license and proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.

According to the report (GAO-08-274R), which was provided to the House Committee on Homeland Security on Dec. 20, 2007, DHS requested $252 million to implement the WHTI in fiscal 2008. Of that total, DHS will use $166 million for technology upgrades and deployment at 13 of the busiest U.S. land ports of entry.

At the time the report was written, Congress had yet to pass a fiscal 2008 appropriation for the department, leaving funding for the initiative uncertain. But last week, State and DHS awarded more than $160 million in contracts for the required technology, including electronic identifying systems using radio frequency tags.

But the department must do much more to successfully implement the WHTI program, GAO reported. "[DHS] still has a long ways to go," especially undertaking extensive testing of the technology, said Richard Stana, director of homeland security and justice at GAO. "They'll need to pilot the technology at a number of ports to see if it works, and iron out some wrinkles," he said. "It will likely be two years before this becomes available at the country's 39 largest ports."

DHS will test the end-to-end WHTI solution -- which includes radio frequency identification tags and readers, license plate readers and client software applications -- in a controlled government facility prior to installing and testing the systems in the field, wrote Steven Pecinovsky, director of DHS' GAO-Inspector General Liaison Office in a response to the report. DHS will devise milestones and deadlines for the testing and deployment of the new hardware, starting with a February training plan for the client software, which will be deployed to the Blaine, Wash., and Nogales, Ariz., borders in advance of the RFID and license plate readers.

"Theoretically, the documents required through WHTI could speed the process [of border crossing] if the RFID readers work well and the passports, passport cards and enhanced driver's licenses work well," Stana said. "But the contract was only just awarded. The sooner we can get technology to be operational and effective, and the sooner we can get it fielded, the better."