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Passport Outsourcing to Thailand – How Safe is Your Information?

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GG Staff | 04/03/2008 - 13:25 | Add new comment

New e-passports tainted with controversy

The Government Printing Office(GPO) has a lucrative deal with overseas companies which lets them rack up the profits - but savings aren't being sent on to citizens.

Travel DocumentsTravel DocumentsBy printing blank electronic passports in foreign countries, the GPO sells them back to the State Department for more than it costs to produce the important documents. It's a clear violation of a Congress law - the agency is supposed to only charge enough to break even.

More worrying are the recent revelations that one company in Thailand trusted with the state-of-the-art passports has already been victimized by Chinese espionage. If the new passports are "jewels of American border security" why are they being produced outside American borders? Can the feds ever be sure that the documents stay secure?

Not only are their risks of replication, but the special technology that makes the passports secure could be duplicated by others - essentially raising the risk of fake passports being produced overseas.

Homeland Security and their buddies at the GPO are confident that their audits are keeping potential terrorists at bay. But even with secure transportation, doesn't a trip around the world inherently bring more risks than producing the docs in house?

Blank passports are the most dangerous stolen passports, because they are virtually impossible to detect - but no fraudulent e-passports have hit the market yet. Still, between the potential safety risks and the already scandalous profit stories, the government has a lot of explaining to do about their new e-passports.

For a more in-depth look at the scandals plaguing e-passports head over to the Washington Times.

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