New U.S. Passport Requirement Starts on January 23

Virtually all air travelers entering the United States after January 23 will need to show passports, including U.S. citizens, the Homeland Security Department announced last week.

Until now, U.S. citizens, travelers from Canada and Bermuda, and some travelers from Mexico who have special border-crossing cards for frequent visitors were allowed to show other proofs of identification, such as drivers’ licenses or birth certificates.

“The ability to misuse travel documents to enter this country opens the door for a terrorist to carry out an attack,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement.

Mr. Chertoff, who disclosed the effective date in an interview with the Associated Press earlier last week, said the change was a crucial next step to helping ensure the nation’s security.

The department had been expected to institute the passport requirement for air travelers around the beginning of the year. Setting the date on January 23 pushes the start past the holiday season.

“Each of these steps raises the bar to an attack. None of this is perfect. None of them is foolproof. But we’re always better off when we build higher levels of security,” he said in the interview.

“Right now, there are 8,000 different state and local entities in the U.S. issuing birth certificates and driver’s licenses,” Mr. Chertoff said. Having to distinguish phony from real in so many different documents “puts an enormous burden on our Customs and Border inspectors,” he added.

In a few cases, other documents still may be used for air entry into the U.S. by some frequent travelers between the U.S. and Canada, members of the American military on official business and some U.S. merchant mariners.

Under a separate program, Homeland Security plans to require all travelers entering the U.S. by land or sea, including Americans, to show passports or an alternative security identification card when entering the U.S. starting as early as January 2008.

The Homeland Security Department estimates that about one in four Americans has a passport. Some people, however, have balked at the $97 price tag.

The commission recommended strengthening security of travel documents. A 2004 law passed by Congress mandated the change to require passports as the only acceptable travel document, with few exceptions, but the exact date had been in question.

Canadian officials and some members of Congress from border states have expressed concern that the changes could interfere with travel and commerce.