Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

U.S. issues first e-passports to diplomats, citizen issuance to start later in ’06

Thursday, April 20, 2006


The United States government plans to begin issuing e-passports – a new version of the passport containing a contactless chip and biometric security – to the American public at the end of 2006. This announcement accompanies the commencement of a mid-January 2006 pilot program in which diplomats were issued the new passports.

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