New driver’s licenses praised

SEATTLE – High-security driver’s licenses aimed at letting U.S. citizens return from Canada without a passport could be adopted elsewhere if Washington state’s experiment works, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday.

The pilot project, signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire and approved by Chertoff on Friday, calls for Washington to begin issuing new “enhanced” driver’s licenses in January.

They will look much like conventional driver’s licenses, but will be loaded with proof of citizenship and other information.

Radio frequency ID chips and other security features also would make the enhanced licenses less vulnerable to forgery. At about $40, they also would be less expensive than a $97 passport.

Chertoff’s endorsement of the pilot project comes as border states prepare for new federal security requirements mandating a passport for travelers – including U.S. citizens – who enter the country by sea or land from elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere.

That requirement is expected to take effect between early 2008 and mid-2009; a similar rule for air travelers already is in force.