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Observations on Efforts to Implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on the U.S. Border with Canada

GAO-06-741R Published: May 25, 2006. Publicly Released: May 25, 2006.
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Highlights

Securing the U.S. border has received increasing attention since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. For years, U.S. and Canadian citizens have crossed the northern border using documents such as driver's licenses or birth certificates or in some cases without showing any documentation. Border crossings are commonplace; in 2005, for example, an estimated 13 million U.S. citizens crossed the northern border. In the heightened national security environment after September 11, we have previously reported that documents like driver's licenses and birth certificates can easily be obtained, altered, or counterfeited and used by terrorists to travel into and out of the country. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to develop and implement a plan that requires a passport or other document or combination of documents that the Secretary of Homeland Security deems sufficient to show identity and citizenship for U.S. citizens and citizens of Bermuda, Canada, and Mexico when entering the United States from certain countries in North, Central, or South America. The act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State (State) to implement this requirement by January 2008, and the effort to do so is called the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (Travel Initiative). As the statutory deadline for implementing DHS's and State's plans draws closer, questions have arisen about the agencies' progress in carrying out the Travel Initiative. As part of our examination of the Travel Initiative, Congress asked us to provide a status report on the progress these agencies have made. On April 7, 2006, we briefed Congress on our observations to date, which focused primarily on implementation along the northern border. This letter summarizes the information we provided at that briefing. It addresses the following questions: (1) What steps have been taken and what challenges remain in implementing the Travel Initiative by the statutory deadline of January 2008? (2) What challenges have been identified with alternative documents or programs that have been suggested as substitutes for passports or PASS cards under the Travel Initiative?

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AntiterrorismBorder securityHomeland securityIdentification cardsPassportsTravelCommutersCitizenshipVital recordsDrivers' licenses