From driver's licenses, to passports, to plane tickets, the paperwork necessary to enter and move about America may soon be subject to more restrictive rules - all in the name of homeland security.
In some cases (licenses) the paperwork may be difficult to get. In others (passports) it may have to be proffered more often. These changes, added together, may have the biggest effect on Americans' routines of any made for security's sake since the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
But the driver's licenses might not be the only thing that will soon take more documents to obtain. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that it will require airlines to ask for passengers' full names and birth dates when selling tickets.
Ticket-buyers won't actually be required to provide this information. But if they don't, there will be a much better chance of their being pulled aside for extra security checks before being allowed to board.
The change should help keep people from being confused with others who have the same or a similar name and are on terrorist watch lists, said TSA officials. It will also help them implement Secure Flight, a computerized passenger screening program set to enter tests this August.
In addition to all this, new rules proposed by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security would eventually require Americans returning from nearby destinations, such as Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, to proffer their passports upon reentry. Previously, returning from these destinations did not require such documentation.
Under the rules - which are now in a comment phase, and have yet to be adopted - US travelers coming from the Caribbean and Panama would need passports beginning next January 1. A similar requirement for return from Canada and Mexico would be phased in over subsequent years.
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