April 2005
On April 5 the U.S. government announced all U.S. citizens re-entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean, Central or South America will be required to show a passport or other ‘secure document’ before entry is allowed.
The major change in entry requirements, part of the effort to tighten boarder security, will be effective by 2008 and will also impact Canadian citizens, who have previously been allowed entry with a driver’s license. Today, border agents must review a wide variety of driver’s licenses and determine if they are valid. Officials are confident passports as the primary form of identification will make the border screening process more accurate.
For the second year in a row, air travelers have given consistently high marks for both customer service and for keeping air travel secure to security screeners with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and privately-contracted screeners. The survey, conducted by BearingPoint, Inc., reports between 80-95 percent of surveyed passengers provided positive remarks when asked about seven key areas of the TSA screening process.
Two of the key areas were "thoroughness and courtesy of screeners," and "traveler confidence in the security of air travel today." Survey results also indicate the TSA is meeting or exceeding passenger expectations for security line wait times.