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3 Million Passports Backlogged Rod Proctor, NewsMax.com A record-setting backlog of people needing passports – now close to 3 million Americans – has forced the State Department to issue a plea for experienced officers stationed overseas to come back home and help clean up the mess. "We did send out a cable to all our consulates requesting help," State Department consular spokesman Steve Royster tells NewsMax. "On the same day, we also sent out an internal release within the department asking for volunteers. We got a sizable response, and that response is taking an immediate bite out of the passport inventory." In addition, The Associated Press reports that about 450 Washington, D.C.-based officers are being sent to passport centers in Louisiana and New Hampshire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered the deployments because other measures to reduce the backlog weren't working fast enough, State Department sources say. Officials trace the backlog to a January federal decree requiring Americans traveling to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean to have passports. That dictum caused about a 50 percent surge in passport applications. Today, nearly 3 million Americans are waiting to get their passports, the State Department reports. But it says only about 500,000 of those applications are officially backlogged. The State Department only classifies a passport request backlogged when it is more than 12 weeks old. Royster tells NewsMax the State Department had never experienced a passport backlog prior to February.
Story Continues Below State Department guidelines call for all passport applications to be fulfilled within 12 weeks, but some passport expediters tell NewsMax the process is taking closer to 14 weeks. One alternative to waiting that long is to pay the government a $60 "expedite fee." This is supposed to shrink that wait time to 60 days or less. Speedy Passport Pickups You can get a passport in just one or two days – for a price. To do so, however, you'll need the services of a private expediter. How do the expediters accomplish in 24 to 48 hours what it can take the federal government over 12 weeks? Expediters have a special arrangement with the State Department: The department reserves a set number of "appointment slots" solely for expediters. That means expediters' passport requests are immediately processed by hand, and don't go to a central clearinghouse where they wait with tens of thousands of other requests. Expediters may charge up to $200 per application for this service, however, depending on how quickly you need your passport. Probably the easiest way to find an expediter is searching online. You may need to provide your expediter with a copy of airline tickets or your travel itinerary. And they'll require a letter of authorization from you, allowing them to act on your behalf. Other tips to accelerate the process: have all your paperwork ready for your expediter, along with two passport photos. You can also phone your representative or senator in Congress and explain your passport problem. (Not surprisingly given the backlog, every member of Congress has at least one staffer dedicated to handling passport woes.) But if you hire an expediter you'll probably find this step unnecessary. If you opt not to pay for an expediter, but still wish to minimize your wait, you can pay the additional $60 to expedite your request. The State Department acknowledges that some who paid the expedite fee have been waiting for more than 12 weeks already. Why the Delay?
MSNBC blogger, author, and online security expert Bob Sullivan says the widespread introduction of electronic passports, which store personal information and a digital photo of the holder on a computer chip, is probably contributing to the backlog. "Barring some other explanation, it's hard to imagine this major change has had no impact on passport delays," writes Sullivan. "And one has to wonder if the chip-enabled passports can be trusted to an agency which can't even answer the phone." State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez denies the new digital passport has anything to do with the delays, however. "The demand is always greatest this time of year because of spring breakers and summer travel," he says. "What's contributing to the backlog is the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative," he says, referring to the new travel law. Many Postal Service locations have begun requiring applicants to reserve appointments three weeks in advance for submitting passport documentation, to avoid abnormally long lines. They are also dedicating clerks to specifically handle passport applications. Lawmakers are feeling the heat, too. Several say they've been swamped with calls from worried constituents concerned about their delayed passport applications. "My state offices have been inundated with cases of travelers who have planned months in advance for travel, applied for their passports in ample time, yet the State Department does not have the ability to process their requests," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, tells NewsMax. A spokesman for Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., Luke Friedrich, tells NewsMax that requests for help obtaining passports have numbered in the thousands. "We just did an hourlong public session up by the border [with Canada], and all the questions were about passports," Friedrich says. Congress has responded by softening the passport requirement for air travel to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Passengers can now board with a state- or federal-issued photo ID and a receipt showing that they have applied for a passport. This stopgap is only good through September, however. Also, plans to extend the passport requirement to sea and land travel, which would have gone into effect in January, have been moved back until at least next summer. Collins and Coleman have written legislation to postpone additional passport requirements until the State Department satisfies Congress that it has adequate plans in place to handle a new wave of requests. The impact on the travel industry has been difficult to gauge, Paul Ruden of the American Society of Travel Agents, tells NewsMax. "There have been cases where someone goes up to the last minute [applying for a passport] and is denied boarding, but we don't have any real data," Ruden says. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, faults the State Department for not preparing for the expected passport surge. "By not anticipating this, we had long lines and congressional phone lines jammed by people saying they couldn't get their passports." Passport Tsunami The number of U.S. passports issued each year since 2002:
2007 17 million (projected)
Royster defends the department's handling of the deluge. "In 2004, when the Homeland Security Act was passed," he says, "we started hiring people. We opened a new passport center in Aurora, Colo., and recently opened the Arkansas Passport Center in Hot Springs. In addition, we commissioned studies to predict what kind of demand this would create. We predicted there would be an increase, and we staffed up accordingly. "What we didn't realize is that many Americans are now seeing the value of simply having a passport. It's a secure, reliable form of identification," he says.
© NewsMax 2007. All rights reserved.
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