The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Department of State (State) announced the proposed requirement, with some exceptions, for citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and British Overseas Territory of Bermuda to present a passport to enter the United States when arriving by air or sea from any part of the Western Hemisphere beginning Jan. 8, 2007.

    A second proposed rule will be published at a later date proposing certain requirements for those travelers entering the United States through a land border crossing beginning Jan. 1, 2008. The land border rule will also address document requirements for ferry passengers, U.S. citizen members of the armed forces on active duty, and for vessels used exclusively for pleasure and not for the transportation of persons or property for compensation or hire.

    Together, these two proposed rules set forth the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). WHTI is the government’s plan to implement a provision of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act signed into law in 2004 which requires that by Jan. 1, 2008 all citizens of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda, have a passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or re-enter the United States from within the Western Hemisphere.

    DHS and the Department of State are providing the public with an opportunity to comment on the proposed rules and enable them to meet these requirements. The proposed timeline and requirements would be as follows:

    •January 8, 2007 – Passports, Merchant Mariner Document (MMD) or NEXUS Air cards would be required for all air travel, and most commercial sea travel, from within the Western Hemisphere for citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. This is a change from the previously scheduled date of January 1, in order to accommodate holiday travel.

    •January 1, 2008 – The statutory deadline for all Western Hemisphere travel, including land border travel. Passports or other accepted documents determined to sufficiently denote identity and citizenship will be required for anyone crossing at a land border, as well as air and sea.

    In addition to the passport, two other proposed travel documents that sufficiently denote identity and citizenship for the air and sea environment include the Merchant Mariner Document (MMD) and the NEXUS Air card. The MMD or “z card” is issued by the U.S. Coast Guard to merchant mariners and the NEXUS Air card is issued to citizens of Canada and the United States, lawful permanent residents of the United States and permanent residents of Canada. The NEXUS Air card may only be accepted when used in conjunction with the NEXUS Air program. The MMD card may only be accepted when used on official maritime business.

    The new system of screening travelers entering the United States significantly would enhance U.S. defenses against terrorism, says Paul Rosenzweig, acting assistant secretary for policy development at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

    By requiring that all individuals carry a passport or other acceptable documents, the WHTI would reduce the potential for identity fraud, he added. “Advanced technology imbedded in these travel documents, with appropriate privacy protections, will allow real-time checks against terrorist and immigration databases.”

    The need for more rigorous security standards has been underscored by recent arrests of suspected terrorists in Canada, Rosenzweig said. Moreover, “the number and types of documentation currently accepted — often a driver’s license or birth certificate — are prone to counterfeiting and fraud and are obtainable by terrorists and other dangerous persons who wish to enter our country illegally,” he said.

    He added that the U.S.-Canadian border traditionally has received less scrutiny than the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Rosenzweig said that the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) — launched in March 2005 by President Bush, former Mexico President Vicente Fox and Canada’s then-prime minister, Paul Martin — also has played a key role in cementing a strong security partnership among the three neighboring North American countries.

    A collaborative U.S.-Canadian approach to establishing appropriate documentation for border-crossing travelers is imperative because a senior Canadian intelligence official recently estimated that “approximately 20,000 immigrants have come to Canada from the Afghanistan/Pakistan region since 2001,” said Rosenzweig.

    An influx from such a volatile region could be problematic because “some extremists have demonstrated the ability to blend into a number of the large communities existing in major U.S. and Canadian cities,” he said, adding that large cities offer opportunities for terrorists to conduct fund-raising and recruiting activities.

    Rosenzweig said “the government of Canada has shown that it is taking strong action to protect itself, which also helps protect our citizens” and added that “the vast majority of persons who immigrate to Canada are law-abiding, simply seeking a better life for themselves and their families.”

    Notwithstanding their commitment to improve security, the United States and its neighbors want to ensure that legitimate travelers and legitimate cross-border commerce will not experience unreasonable delays, Rosenzweig said.

    “It is important to bear in mind ... that security and commerce are not exclusive of each other,” he said. “In fact, standardized and automated travel documents will enable us to quickly, reliably, and accurately identify a traveler and his or her citizenship without having to review an assortment of documents and pursue a line of questioning to determine who the person is; this will facilitate the entry of travelers.”

    To assist U.S. citizens, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State “are developing plans to produce an alternative form of the U.S. passport for use at land border crossings” since both agencies “realize that a traditional passport book may not be the most convenient or effective form of documentation for land border use, particularly for frequent crossers,” he added.

    A proposed travel card for U.S. citizens that would be issued by the Department of Homeland Security, “is envisioned as wallet-sized and convenient to obtain, costing the bearer substantially less than a traditional passport,” he explained. “The card will contain security features and will use technology to link the identity and citizenship of the bearer to a U.S. government database in a privacy-protective manner.”