Passport to go to Canada? Commission report says yes

CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

If the 9/11 Commission recommendations are fully implemented, day trips to Canada could get a lot more complicated.

The report calls for much tighter border security with U.S. neighbors, including Canada, Mexico and Caribbean countries, where passports are not required.

That may all change.

"We found that as many as 15 of the 19 (Sept. 11) hijackers were potentially vulnerable to interception by border authorities," the report states.

The report calls for far stricter measures when crossing the border from countries like Canada and Mexico.

"Americans should not be exempt from carrying biometric passports or otherwise enabling their identities to be securely verified when they enter the United States; nor should Canadians or Mexicans," the report said. "Currently, U.S. persons are exempt from carrying passports when returning from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. The current system enables non-U.S. citizens to gain entry by showing minimal identification. The 9/11 experience shows that terrorists study and exploit America's vulnerabilities."

The 9/11 Commission also wants a federal standard for driver's licenses.

The Commission calls for a "biometric" screening system that could use identifiers like an person's iris pattern, fingerprints or facial features.

A system is already in the works. It's called the Unite States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program.

It utilizes digital photographs of a person and fingerprints from two index fingers. It's expected to be online about 2010, but that may be too late, and even that system has shortfalls. For one, it still only covers about 12 percent of all non-citizens entering the U.S. the report says. The report says a comprehensive screening system needs to be in place.

Another key element to border security is good people. The report tells the tale of an immigration inspector who turned away a potential hijacker based on the inspector's intuitive experience and the questions he asked the subject.

Some things have already tightened up locally. The Border Patrol has beefed up its patrols in the North Fork, Glacier National Park will seek to add two border-related rangers in 2005, and restrictions are currently in place to visitors to Goat Haunt.

In the North Fork, the Border Patrol used to have a minimal presence, but that all changed a few months ago. Now folks see patrols 24 hours a day, seven days a week on