Senate Appropriations Committee has put aside the controversial Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative of the Homeland Security Department (HSD).



The HSD suggested that people crossing the US borders must carry either a passport or a new form of identification (supposedly the RFID tag attach).



However, a consensus is not emerging on the kind of RFID technology to be implemented to track people passing through the US borders from Canada, Mexico and other areas. The State department prefers a contact less smart card having a short-range RFID chip ensuring privacy protections, while DHS favors an ultra high-frequency form of RFID technology.



Due to difference stands, the US senate has put aside the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative of DHS for 17 months to June 1, 2009. The DHS and State department would come up with a mutual agreement for the RFID rolling.



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