But the real concern here is security. The State Department is issuing these sophisticated, state-of-the-art passports in order to ensure safety from fraud and forgery and from unlawful use by noncitizens. This new e-passport has built in a small computer chip that contains the personal information of the passport holder which then can be matched with information on entry. But none of us is aware that this new passport has already traveled around the world before it is issued to us. A company in the Netherlands makes the cover for the passport and the microchip inserted in the back. Then it is off to Thailand where it receives a radio antenna. The blank passport then returns to the United States. The GPO and the State Department tell us that there is "no domestic company who can produce those parts." Given the technological capabilities of this nation, that is hard to believe.

Every American should have serious concerns about this whole procedure. It looks like our government has put saving money before national security. Despite the assurance from the State Department that they "review security of overseas suppliers and that the production process is secure," there seems to be a critical safety gap. Remember, we were told the same thing about children toys from China. In 2007 the Netherlands maker of the passport chips had already filed a complaint with the court in The Hague that "China had stolen its patented chip technology for e-passport chips."

It seems obvious that the production of our high-tech passports in foreign countries leaves them vulnerable and will help forgers, thieves, not to mention terrorists, to come up with a "genuine" U.S. passport. It looks like the GPO has done half the work for them.

We should insist that in the future passports issued to our citizens should be manufactured in the United States under strict regulations and tight security.