The new technology is being used in conjunction with new government passports, passcards and driver's licenses embedded with computer chips that contain the holder's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number and a digitized photo. The personal data can be "read" by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machine as the person approaches a border-crossing checkpoint.
By the time a car stops at the Customs booth, the agent will have the photos and information of everyone in the car. If a name is on a watch list or database, the person will be taken in for questioning. The system will be "more efficient," says Thomas Winkowski of Customs and Border Protection.
The border crossing ID requirement takes effect in June. So far, 600,000 State Department passcards and 40,000 embedded licenses from Washington state and New York have been issued.
The government WAS planning on using long range scanning to read RFID passports, and apparently is STILL doing that with state ID cards!
