Retarded Monkeys Need Jobs, Too!
How hard is it for the geniuses at the post-9/11 U.S. Passport office to catch people in big fat screaming lies on their passport applications? Not hard at all -- providing the people applying for passports write in big, red letters, "This is a big fat screaming lie" and "This is not really me!" on the falsified information they provide.
A U.S. investigator tried four times to get a passport with phony documents -- and succeeded four times, says an AP story by Eileen Sullivan:
The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, details the ruses:-One investigator used the Social Security number of a man who died in 1965, a fake New York birth certificate and a fake Florida driver's license. He received a passport four days later.
-A second attempt had the investigator using a 5-year-old boy's information but identifying himself as 53 years old on the passport application. He received that passport seven days later.
-In another test, an investigator used fake documents to get a genuine Washington, D.C., identification card, which he then used to apply for a passport. He received it the same day.
-A fourth investigator used a fake New York birth certificate and a fake West Virginia driver's license and got the passport eight days later.
Criminals and terrorists place a high value on illegally obtained travel documents, U.S. intelligence officials have said. Currently, poorly faked passports are sold on the black market for $300, while top-notch fakes go for around $5,000, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations.
The State Department has known about this vulnerability for years. On February 26, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary of passport services issued a memo to Passport Services directors across the country stating that the agency is reviewing its processes for issuing passports because of "recent events regarding several passport applications that were approved and issued in error."
Sorry, but "Whoopsy!" is not an acceptable response for allowing potential terrorists to get their very own real travel documents in fake identities. Let's hope no terrorists could imagine we'd be this asinine about our security.
Try not to think about this while some TSA guy is pointing her flashlight up your ass crack at the airport -- it's better for your blood pressure.
These are the same jokers that say they can fix the economy and give us universal health care?
The scariest statement anyone can ever make: "I'm represent the government, and I'm here to help."
Jim P. at March 14, 2009 6:32 AM
There are lots of insconsistencies in the way passports are issued...
Husband and I both had our passport applications delayed when we got them in '04... I think it took about 6 weeks. (We're both plain ol' boring white people, with real Texas birth certificates.)
Last year, my boss paid an expediting service to get his daughter's passport through before a cruise... it took about two days. (The guy evidently flys the apps directly to one of the main passport offices, but how it gets through so fast, I don't know.)
And, Husband's employee's dog ate his passport last week, right before a trip to Argentina. Employee had to drive to the Houston passport office and present "evidence" that he had the trip planned already and prove the need to have the passport reissued quickly.
I guess that the chances of a passport being issued when fake documentation is used substantially increase when an expediting fee is paid.
I also wonder if certain passport offices are worse than others?
ahw at March 14, 2009 7:37 AM
Never assume government will protect you or save you, or turn injustice into justice. This belief is one of the great naiveties of Americans.
Amy Alkon at March 14, 2009 9:08 AM
I think it should be made easier for terrorists to get passports, in case they want to leave the U.S.
Norman L. at March 16, 2009 1:51 AM
The birth certificate thing is easy to understand. There are so many different formats of birth certs that have been used by different states and different hospitals over the years that detecting a fake one is pretty much impossible; any test you devise will result in a significant number of false positives.
The drivers' license and SSN thing, though, not so much. Those should be easy to validate.
Cousin Dave at March 16, 2009 8:23 AM
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SCUBA GUY at December 3, 2009 5:36 AM
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