DETROIT – Legislation was passed over a month ago with the intent of providing citizens of the State of Washington the ability to cross the border from Seattle into Canada and back without need of a passport. While the sense of urgency and heightened visibility that is recognized in Washington state is centered around the upcoming 2010 Olympics, to be held in Vancouver, Detroit and the rest of Michigan have just as critical a need, though one that is less event focused – another nail in our economy’s coffin.

While most would assume the reduction in Detroit / Windsor border traffic resulting from security crackdowns after 9/11 have ended, a recent Detroit Free Press article sites a 13 percent decline in traffic this year compared to last. Compared to peak years of 1999 and 2000, passenger car traffic is off 35 percent. The same trends can be assumed in the reverse direction, spelling millions of dollars of business being lost both ways. This is before the advent of legislation requiring DHS mandated passports for all border crossings.

In Washington State, Governor Chris Gregoire has worked out a deal with head of Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff that will provide the ability for state residents to apply for a $40 voluntary driver’s license, which will be loaded with proof of citizenship and other information, beginning in January 2008. It will be in effect until at least June 2009, the deadline imposed by DHS’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI). The program start date coincides with the current DHS mandate of requiring a DHS approved document of all US citizens re-entering the U.S. by land or sea, including ferries, from Canada, Mexico, Central & South America, the Caribbean or Bermuda. The driver’s license would store all of this information and transmit it using an RFID chip, further increasing the flexibility of the license and allowing faster processing at borders.

Detroit needs this passport alternative, the “enhanced drivers license”, and if Washington State is able to develop their program at zero cost (the $40 drivers license fee covers administrative costs, making the program self supporting), then even in Michigan’s revenue challenged government bureacracy, room could be made for such an important program that provides the opportunity to halt the continued contraction of our economy. For Michigan’s citizens this also makes more sense when compared to the $97 passport alternative for those wishing to venture outside our borders after January.

While Infragard and security professionals in Michigan have a heightened interest in making sure that our borders remain safe, I think we all can agree that security that is not implemented to maximize our ability to support commerce and our social structure will defeat it’s intended purpose. Let your legislator know that you are interested in a solution that works for DHS, the State of Michigan, our economy and it’s citizens.

Additional information on the Washington State initiative can be found at SeattlePI.Com

This column was written by Hans Erickson, a Michigan InfraGard board member and CIO for the Detroit Regional Chamber. If you have a story idea, email it to [email protected]