RFID technology to help speed, streamline border crossing

Published June 29th, 2008

By John Johnston
Managing Editor

Boca Raton travel industry executive Yvonne S. Boice takes a practical approach to an announcement by the US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) service that 39 major entry points along the nation’s borders with Canada and Mexico would be modified to permit usage of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology at 354 vehicle lanes.

“Whatever technology we can use to speed up the travel process – while also enhancing the nation’s security – makes sense to me,” she told the Boca Raton News.

The CPB said this week “use of RFID will enable swifter processing at border crossings for travelers using new state-of-the-art travel documents.”

These documents include a new passport card – a wallet-sized, cost-effective alternative to the traditional passport specifically designed for cross-border land and sea travel – and enhanced driver’s licenses (EDLs) being produced by several states. Washington State began producing an EDL in February and currently has issued over 17,000. 

“We want to alert travelers to the potential of increased wait times at some high-volume border crossings this summer,” said CBP’s Executive Director for Admissibility and Passenger Programs Paul Morris. “Deploying RFID readers will be a tremendous step in helping reduce congestion and long lines in the future. We also want to thank travelers for their patience during this construction phase and to encourage them to obtain one of the new RFID-enabled documents.”

The State Department currently has received over 300,000 passport card applications and will be in full production in July. In addition, the State Department will be incorporating RFID technology into the next generation Border Crossing Cards. These new cards, which the State Department will begin issuing later this year, will further enhance and streamline border crossing for BCC-holders.

But there are naysayers – not necessarily to the improved border crossing potential – but to the use of RFID technology in general, i.e., the Boca Raton News has been told the following:

“ Whenever your passport is read at a border crossing, airport, etc. -- and if there's an RFID chip in your passport -- identity thieves, terrorists, direct marketers, data aggregators, malicious governments, or anyone else with a radio receiver within 30 feet or more, can secretly and remotely track you, log your movements through the unique "collision avoidance" ID number sent by the chip, and intercept and decrypt all the data (including your digital photo.” 

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Kelly Klundt told the Boca Raton News: “DHS takes seriously the concerns about privacy voiced by the public and is extremely cognizant of the impact of protecting privacy.  That’s why we institute best practices for the collection, protection, and use of personal information for our programs.”

“There is no personal information stored on the RFID chip,” she continued -- only a unique number.  So if the card were to be read illicitly or “tracked”, no personal information would be obtained.  The risk of tracking, however, must be put in the context—it is much more likely that an individual would be tracked through a cell phone or license plate than at a distance of 10-20 feet using an RFID-enabled card.”

Klundt said as well that opaque or protective sleeves (also known as jackets) will be issued with all travel cards to prevent them from being read (even by DHS).  A sleeve will also protect the credential from potential weather hazards, scratches, rips, or other damage resulting from long term use and wear, she said.

The new passport card, however, is intended only as a limited-use travel document, which means it’s valid only for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean region, and Bermuda. For travel by air, citizens will need a regular passport.

Now Required

In any case, the new RFID documents are the result of a new requirement, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), a Congressional mandate passed in 2004. The requirement went into effect for air travel in January 2007. Full implementation of WHTI for land and sea travel will go into effect June 1, 2009. To help mitigate impact, CBP is taking a phased approach with separate construction and installation phases, which will be complete prior to June 2009. Where possible, construction is taking place during non-peak hours at the border crossings, Klundt said.