It's too easy to get a U.S. passport fraudulently, report says (IHT/NYT)

[Up2Late]

It's too easy to get a U.S. passport fraudulently, report says

By Eric Lipton The New York Times

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2005

WASHINGTON Insufficient oversight by the State Department means it is still far too easy for illegal immigrants, as well as fugitives or possibly even terrorist suspects, to obtain an American passport fraudulently, according to federal auditors and a former senior State Department passport security official. The vulnerabilities result from a passport processing system that has not routinely checked applications against comprehensive lists of wanted criminals and terrorist suspects, says the Government Accountability Office report, due to be made public Wednesday.

The State Department also too often fails to pursue leads aggressively that might allow the government to arrest black-market sellers of phony identification documents that are essential to gaining a fraudulent passport, Michael Johnson, the former agency security official, said.

Once issued, a fraudulent passport typically becomes a critical tool for illegal immigrants seeking work or who want to travel internationally, as well as for individuals involved in drug smuggling, money laundering, social security fraud and perhaps even terrorism, the investigators said.

"A fraudulent passport can enable to holder to conceal his true identity and his citizenship," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will hold a hearing on the subject Wednesday. "These are exactly the kinds of problems that allowed the terrorists to attack our country and prevented the thwarting of the attacks."

<http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/06/28/news/passport.php>
(more at link above)

[jsamuel]

1. That is factually wrong...

"A fraudulent passport can enable to holder to conceal his true identity and his citizenship," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will hold a hearing on the subject Wednesday. "These are exactly the kinds of problems that allowed the terrorists to attack our country and prevented the thwarting of the attacks."

-- The 9/11 hijackers were here legally. They did not use false identities or have fake passports.

[Up2Late]

2. But,but. Republican Senators NEVER Lie?!?

RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!

[Zan_of_Texas]

3. Well, let's look at the BIG picture on terrorism.

Most of our terrorists have valid IDs and passports, and are home-grown Americans.

They bomb abortion clinics. And gay bars. Shoot an abortion doctor in front of his family. Bomb black churches. Lynch people (4700 of them). Blow up the Oklahoma Federal Building.

All home-grown.

And, that doesn't even count domestic violence.

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
IN THE UNITED STATES
http://www.now.org/issues/violence/stats.html
National Organization for Women

MURDER . Every day four women die in this country as a result of domestic violence, the euphemism for murders and assaults by husbands and boyfriends. That's approximately 1,400 women a year, according to the FBI. The number of women who have been murdered by their intimate partners is greater than the number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War.

BATTERING . Although only 572,000 reports of assault by intimates are officially reported to federal officials each year, the most conservative estimates indicate two to four million women of all races and classes are battered each year. At least 170,000 of those violent incidents are serious enough to require hospitalization, emergency room care or a doctor's attention.

[Up2Late]

5. Yup, and for once I can tell you, Georgia has more than Texas...

...Active Hate Groups that is, Georgia has 41, Texas has 40, Even Florida and California have more 43 and 42 respectively, but South Carolina beats us all with 47.

If you want to see something really disturbing, Check out one or two of the web sites by that so-call preacher Fred Phelps, we're not supposed to link to hate groups, so you'll need to remove the spaces to this: www .god hates america .org (I think it .org, it might be .com)

[Daphne08]

4. They can't wait for those RFID passports, can they!

That is, until the day when they will just plant the damn chips inside us! :mad: