Interest in a national identification card system for U.S. citizens has surged and faded since Sept. 11, but two U.S. senators have proposed a related idea: that foreign visitors to the United States be required to carry biometric-bearing smart cards.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., introduced a bill last week that would require the creation of a centralized database of visa holders and other non-U.S. citizens who enter the country, and it would require the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the State Department to create biometric-visa documents that foreign nationals would swipe upon entering and leaving the United States.
Makers of smart cards and of biometric technology say the measure could be a boon to their industries, but given that previous proposals in this vein have met with little success, they are not rejoicing yet. Though the Feinstein-Kyl bill may be more palatable to the public than a national ID program, it is still being opposed by civil liberties groups, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., plans to introduce a less stringent proposal for tracking foreigners in the United States.
Smart card consultant Jerome Svigals of Redwood City, Calif., said that smart cards could be useful for storing secure identifying data such as fingerprints but are only part of the solution. You can still lose cards, and it is not clear where the card will be useful other than through ports, he said. You need an infrastructure and rules to take advantage of the cards.
Since Sept. 11 the loudest voice for a national ID card system has been that of Larry Ellison, chairman of software maker Oracle Corp., who volunteered to help pay for a program that would issue biometric-bearing chip cards to all U.S. citizens. President George W. Bush said he did not support the idea, but Sen. Feinstein who is from San Francisco, near Oracles headquarters said Mr. Ellisons proposal was her inspiration.
Though Mr. Ellison said he envisions all Americans carrying a government-issued card, perhaps a Social Security card, with a chip that stores a biometric record, Sen. Feinstein and Sen. Kyl proposed that only non-U.S. citizens be required to carry such cards, which would be called SmartVisa cards (the name would not be related to Visa U.S.A. or Visa International, which call their smart card product Smart Visa).
The SmartVisa cards, considered much more difficult to forge than traditional visas, would hold a copy of the fingerprint biometric and typical visa information. The holder would be required to present his or her finger to have it matched to the copy on the chip to prove identity.
Biometrics have been used frequently to control border crossings, even in the United States. U.S. citizens who cross the border frequently are able to participate in a voluntary program that registers a fingerprint biometric. Holders of the frequent-traveler passports pass more quickly through customs by showing their fingers for identification at a customs station.
