US passport manufacturing outsourced

by Steve Ragan - Apr 3 2008, 17:12

The Washington Times has a story that reports the outsourcing of RFID passport creation from the US to some interesting companies overseas. The Government Printing Office (GPO) is making a mint by charging the State Department more for blank passports than it costs to produce them, the savings are magnified by outsourcing savings.

With US passport manufacturing being outsourced, is our national ID at risk? (IMG: J.Anderson)

According to the Washing Times report, the GPO is sending the passports overseas for production, which in turn is leading the agency to post record profits. The concern by some is that savings are being placed in front of security.“I am not only troubled that there may be serious security concerns with the new passport production system, but also that GPO officials may have been profiting from producing them," said Rep. John D. Dingell, to the Times.GPO Inspector General told the Times that there were some significant deficiencies with the manufacturing process. He listed among his concerns items such as, “security of components, and the internal controls for the process.”The blank passports are being sent to Europe where they get their implanted microchip, and they are then sent off to Ayutthana, Thailand where they have the antenna inserted. The problem is that the factory in Thailand is owned by Netherlands-based Smartrac Technology Ltd. In 2007, Smartrac reported that China had stolen its patented chip technology for e-passport chips.RFID has been proven insecure. RFID has also been proven to have solid security if the entity using the technology is willing to pay for it. As was the case with the MiFare Classic RFID chip, spending less also meant getting less on security. While NXP isn’t the issue here, the notion that another RFID manufacturer has faced security violations, but is still in charge of US passports creation, is spooky to say the least.“If true, these allegations raised in [recent] press reports are extremely serious not only to the integrity of our e-Passport program, but also to our national security,” said Mr. Dingell in his interview with the Times.The Washing Times has a series of reports on the passport investigation. Reporter Bill Gertz broke the story.http://tinyurl.com/345f6u

Comment on this Story

Interested in a more interactive TTH? Join our Facebook Group
Want regular updates from The Tech Herald? Follow us on Twitter

Comment on this Story

Note our older Talkback system is still running below. We hope to import existing comments into the new system shortly. Guest posting is still allowed, however, you can now login with any number of social network accounts.

Talkback

Add your comment (no registration required)

page: 1

Oops!Apr 3rd, 2008 - 20:54:05

Makes you wonder what else goes on that they just haven't caught yet. There is no way we should be using outsourced companies or employees on our passports, that takes privatization way too far. RFID comes in many flavors, but just like with computers, all can eventually be hacked. If we need to use computer chips, why not ones that aren't WI-FI? Somone in a high place somewhere is making money off this.

Report this comment

page: 1

Add your comment (no registration required)

Security

US passport manufacturing outsourced

Comment on this Story

Talkback

Latest

Latest Articles on Monsters&Critics

In The Tech Herald

Site

The Fine Print